Parallels and Coincidences (isn't every fanfic an alternate reality)
by NazdurukBugzappa
Summary: The O'Reilly family moved to Japan for a normal life. It didn't go to plan. (Note 1: this is a rewrite of my first attempt of a story) (Note 2: this story crosses a few timelines, but the category selector maxes out at two)
1. Chapter 1

After receiving feedback, this story has been rewritten.

Chapter 1

**Oborozuka, early in the morning.**

Erika carefully got out of bed, and expertly switched the grip of the four-year-old girl to her wife, Freya. She changed her clothes, and looked at herself in the mirror. The dress she chose helped to flatter what little figure she had.

Even before the ...unpleasantness... of 12 years ago, she had already resigned herself to having stopped 'developing' since middle-school. She rearranged her light red hair into a ponytail, and adjusted her glasses, and exited the bedroom.

She looked in each of the other bedrooms, to check the other children were alright. Astrid, Freya's little sister was sleeping soundly. In the next room, Freya's daughter, Mizuchi, had climbed into her twin brother's bed sometime earlier, and currently had Hiroshi in a death-grip. She wasn't going to be able to release her without assistance.

She then walked over to the newest feature of the apartment; a door leading directly to the adjacent apartment. A few weeks ago, Freya had bought this 3 bedroom apartment, in Japan, so they could be closer to Erika's family. However, a few days ago, circumstances necessitated expanding the living arrangements. Rather than move, Freya just stated "I like the area," and just bought the neighbouring apartment. _It's scary how much money Freya has access to,_ Erika thought, and not for the first time. The second living space betrayed the otaku-nature of the two girls currently occupying it.

Hikari's 'side' of the living space boasted a heavily customised gaming computer, and various posters, and shelves full of manga and figurines. There was a lot of science-fiction amongst the collection, but it was mostly biased towards mecha. Kuroko's 'side' was similar, but the bias was towards superheroes. Someone looking closely would also notice a significant portion of Kuroko's collection were apparently 'alternate-reality' themed versions of Hikari's. Separating both 'sides' of the room was a Police Box. A faint glow came from its windows, and a slight vibration could be felt when touching its walls.

Looking towards the sofa, she could see both girls crashed-out. When the younger children were being put to bed, they had been connecting the television in the 'main' apartment to a games console and the Wi-Fi. They obviously spent some time doing the same in here, and had fallen asleep while watching a movie. Erika pulled open the doors on the Police Box, to reveal a three foot server-box sitting at its rear, a set of shelves above it, containing various games and BluRay discs. Towards the front of the cabinet, hooks and recharge-points lined the walls.

Erika carefully lifted the wireless headphones from Kuroko, and collected the fallen controllers, ejecting the disc from the games-console as she went. While she was returning the items to their correct places, She heard Hikari's quiet voice behind her.

"Good morning, Erika," she said.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," replied Erika. "I see you were busy last night."

"Yeah, we finished around two."

"It's not like you to fall asleep on the couch like that."

"I know. It's kind of embarrassing. Could you give me some help?"

"Sure. Hold on a moment"

Erika walked over to the couch, grabbed Hikari's shoulders, and did some complex motion with her hands. The front section of what turned out to be a human-sized suit of exo-armour popped open, to reveal a red-faced, six inch tall humanoid.

With butterfly wings.

One of the control panels was throwing sparks, and showed signs of water damage. "Still drool in your sleep, I see."

"Shut up," Hikari muttered. "It's a side effect of the faulty gene-loom that made me."

"No. I'd say it was genetic. Look at Exhibit A, next to you," indicating a damp patch on the cushion Kuroko was using as a pillow. "Thank god neither of you have corrosive saliva."

"Kuroko doesn't count. She also came from a gene-loom, even if it was a different one to mine."

"Your mother also does it."

"...fine..." she mumbled. "I meant to ask, how long has that been happening?"

"Since a few days before your 'involuntary isekai adventure' began."

Just under a week ago, Hikari fell through a space/time rift, bringing Kuroko and her little sister, Midori, with her. The moment Freya set eyes on them, she immediately took them in as her own. When Hikari explained they were the children of an alternate-reality version of her, Freya immediately 'fast-tracked' their adoption. _She probably hacked every single family-registry database in this quadrant of the galaxy,_ thought Erika. _And, if she hadn't, Hikari would have._

"So, am I going to have to call you 'Mama-Erika' now?" asked Hikari.

Erika just stuck out her tongue.

"Looks like I'll have to make a trip to Akihabara, for spare parts," said Hikari.

"Wasn't this just a prototype?" asked Erika. "What happened to your other armour?"

"I don't have it," she replied. "I had to strip it for its techno-organic components, and a few other parts, to perform an emergency, life-saving, operation."

Kuroko's cybernetic legs and right arm suddenly looked familiar. Erika raised an eyebrow.

"Don't judge me," Hikari guiltily stated. "I didn't know Arachnes existed until last month, and in my defence, there was a building collapsed on top of her."

"So how are you going to head outside, without the local population freaking out?"

"Like this."

Several glowing rings of purple runes suddenly started orbiting around Hikari's small frame. A few seconds later, she was human-sized. The only differences to being human-looking was the pointy ears, and the large butterfly wings. The 'sylph look' was only spoiled by the beige and black combat uniform she was wearing. One shoulder bore the rank markings of an Artificer Captain, and the other had the insignia of the 'Galactic Defence Command' prominently displayed.

"Wow!" exclaimed a voice from one of the doorway. "Hikari-oneesan, you look just like Magical Girl Inaba-chan when you do that."

"She does, doesn't she?" commented Kuroko, still lying on the couch, but with one eye open. "When I first saw Hikari-nee, I would have thought she wouldn't be caught dead wearing a frilly pink dress. However, her 'magic wand' over there is giving me second thoughts."

She then opened her eyes, stuck her tongue out, returned Hikari's two-finger salute, and stood up.

"It's just inconvenient for her that her magical resistance also affects magic she casts on herself." She looked towards Hikari. "You still have to recast that after four or five hours, don't you?"

"I've managed to get it to last for six now," she replied.

Standing next to Hikari, the resemblance between Kuroko and the 'sister' she brought back with her from some alternate version of Earth was uncanny. Their species traits were their only physical differences.

Both girls were just shy of 6 feet tall, had red hair, and green eyes (Kuroko had six, arranged as two 'normal' eyes, and 4 smaller 'mini-eyes' near the outside corners of them). They also had the same 12D hourglass figure as their mother.

Mizuchi looked towards where Kuroko's right arm had earlier indicated, and saw what was on the computer desk, propped up in the corner. She turned towards her older sisters and stated, matter-of-factly, "Gluing stars and pink glitter to a Dalek blaster does not make it a magic wand."

"The wizards from four dimension jumps ago don't know that," Hikari replied. "When I left, their authorities were still trying to figure out how the Exterminate 'spell' works. I've only ever fired the thing twice. It doesn't have any charge left, anyway. I'll have to tell you about my time on that world sometime."

"Meanwhile, Mizuchi, seeing as you're awake," said Erika. "Go wake up Hiroshi and your aunt Astrid, and get changed. We're going out and about today. School starts soon, and we need to get uniforms fitted for everyone, as well as a lot of stationery."

"Yes, Mama-Erika."

"Also, how do we disguise Midori? An Arachne, even a small one, will still draw attention."

"About that," replied Kuroko. "Mama used to carry around a device that Mum built for her, back before the population of my world gained knowledge of non-humans onto our Earth's general population. It gives the wearer the illusion of being human, and should still work. Hang on a moment."

She went into her bedroom, and brought out a device that looked like an old Sony Disc-man.

"Mr Yana probably isn't going to be taking visitors this morning, since he has night shifts all this week. We'll have to give him Mother's thank you present another time," said Kuroko. "However, the people who live between him and Mrs Sasakibe came back from their holiday around 9:30 last night. We should go introduce ourselves after breakfast."

"_Hi. I'm Seamus, the System Holographic Interface Program for the Mobile Space Dry-dock 'Irish Rose.' _

"_My predictive enquiry algorithms have detected that you require information on Gene-looms._

"_First invented in the year 2684, Gene-looms utilise a combination of cloning and gene-splicing to help stabilise population growth of off-world colonies. A mixture of bio-synthetic, bio-mechanical, and techno-organic elements are used to 'grow' a person, and can even splice DNA of normally 'incompatible' pairings._

"_Neural mapping programs are used during the process to upload any required information into the developing body, and the key physical attributes of the person can be customised to the environment. For example; reinforced bones for high gravity worlds, secondary gills for worlds with little to no land, etc._

"_Early versions of the device only ever produced fully-grown adults. However, the mk3 and mk4 versions were able to produce young children, providing the family bonding experience of raising children. The mk5 devices onwards had advanced enough to produce embryos, which could be either implanted in a parent, or incubated in an artificial womb._

"_Unfortunately, the potential for abuse of the Gene-loom requires them to be highly regulated. Facilities containing them must submit to regular government oversight, with random testing of memory-implant algorithms, and any customisations to genetic profiles. The most recently reported incident was reported 16 years ago, when Artificer Captain Freya O'Reilly was sent to investigate the looting of Automated Emergency Way-point Station 9A4G, near Proxima Centauri. The thefts were traced to the Resupply Station 'Okinawa' in orbit, around Ryza, where she was accidentally scanned by an illegally-modified mk2 gene-loom. Apparently, the station's owner wanted to make his own fairy garden. The device was confiscated and reinitialised. Everyone involved was investigated and dealt with, according to the law. The 'fairies' were either adopted into their respective families, or placed under the foster care of the Galactic Emperor."_

**Just after 8am, the floor below:**

Mrs Sasakibe was on her way out, to do some morning shopping, when the elevator opened. She looked over, and noticed the family that just moved upstairs a few days earlier. Two of the girls were wearing some sort of cosplay military uniforms. They were accompanying a few young children that she was yet to be introduced to.

"Mrs Sasakibe, good morning," Kuroko called out. "I hope we're not inconveniencing you, by visiting so early."

"Oh, good morning, Kuroko-chan. It's no trouble at all."

Freya called out from the elevator "Sorry to skip out before properly introducing the family, but I have an emergency meeting to attend. I'll make it up to you some other time." The elevator doors closed, and she continued her journey to the ground floor.

Erika introduced Mrs Sasakibe to the rest of the family, and started chatting for a while.

After about 15 minutes of small-talk, Mizuchi got bored, and hared-off along the walkway.

"Hey, Mizuchi-chan! Get back here!" Erika called out.

Mizuchi just spun around, and stuck out her tongue. Mrs Sasakibe just laughed. _She's as energetic as next door's girls,_ he thought.

Things got interesting, when Mizuchi called out, on her way to the stairs,

"Mama-Erika! Mrs Sasakibe's neighbours have the same last name as you do!"


	2. Chapter 2

_[The Museum of Cryptozoology (and their rescue mission) belongs to Claidheamh Mohr]_

(Chapter 2)

**Kobayashi's apartment, a few minutes earlier:**

Kobayashi, Tohru, Ilulu and Kanna were having breakfast, when they heard voices coming from in front of Mrs Sasakibe's apartment, thought Kobayashi. One of them sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

While they were eating, Kobayashi discussed the plans for the day.

"School starts in a few days, so we'll have to get everything ready. Kanna-chan starts grade four this year . That means they'll start allowing students to 'graduate' from pencils to pens."

"Ohhh," replied Kanna.

"We've also been talking with the principal of the local high school," said Kobayashi. "You can attend school too, Ilulu. We've explained about the difficulty of finding a uniform that fits and, apparently, two other new students are having similar issues. They've made arrangements for you to be fitted for a custom uniform."

"Yaaay! I can be with Take-kun all day!" Ilulu exclaimed.

"Just don't press up against him too much," said Tohru. "You could end up in trouble with the Principal."

_Or end up gravid,_ thought Kobayashi.

Kobayashi then heard the vaguely familiar voice call out "Hey, Mizuchi-chan! Get back here!"

_No, it can't be. _Kobayashi thought, her mind flashing back to when she was five.

She then heard a young girl's voice a few minutes later "Mama-Erika! Mrs Sasakibe's neighbours have the same last name as you do!"

"Erika-kun? When did she get back to Japan!?" Kobayashi nearly shouted, as she jumped out of her chair and ran for the front door, worried looks forming on the three dragons' faces.

**Back outside**

Hikari noticed Erika's face go pale as the front door of the neighbouring apartment burst open, revealing a very similar-looking woman.

_I didn't think that reaction was even possible for her,_ Hikari thought.

"Hikari," Erika said with a shaky voice. "Allow me to introduce my cousin, Mizuchi."

_Sometimes having the same integrated comms system as Mother is a pain,_ thought Hikari, as the equivalent of a HUD suddenly activated in her field of vision.

++**VF-NXprototype-DREADWING**: what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do?

++**MechaFaerie1337**: Erika, please calm down. You'll cause your Remote Projection Unit to glitch.

++**VF-NXprototype-DREADWING**: what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? what do I do? Sorry, Hikari. I'm not ready to confront my relatives about my situation.

++**IceQueen001**: You don't have to give her full-disclosure. The only information you have no choice about is being married, and having stepchildren.

++**MechaFaerie1337**: Have you even told your parents about that? Your cousin is obviously in a similar-looking situation, with less kids, but your parents haven't said anything to you about that.

++**VF-NXprototype-DREADWING**: Hikari, Astrid, you're both right. Even after twelve years, I still cannot figure out what to classify myself as. Am I a variation of haunted armour, or was I reincarnated as a mecha, with all of my memories intact?

++**MechaFaerie1337**: We'll save that philosophical debate for another time. Meanwhile, just talk to her.

"Erika-kun, I was told you were working for a R&D company in America," said Kobayashi.

"...yeah... about that..." hesitated Erika. "The company's CEO decided to move operations to Japan, to be closer to her wife's family, and to push her into informing them about their relationship."

"That still doesn't explain- ...oh..." said Kobayashi, as Erika's face got redder and redder.

Kobayashi's jaw dropped. _How long has she been keeping quiet about her relationship?_ she thought. _Then again, it took me a year to tell my parents I was dating a woman. They still don't know about the dragon thing yet._

"Yeah," said Erika. "...this is my sister-in-law, Astrid. She turns twelve next month."

Astrid was just under five feet tall, had red hair and blue-green eyes, and was obviously an 'early bloomer' with the same figure as the average 15 year old.

"This is my eldest stepdaughter, Hikari and her twin, Kuroko, they're 16."

_Why couldn't nature have given me a quarter of that,_ thought Kobayashi, while staring enviously at their curves.

"This is Hiroshi, he just turned ten."

Kobayashi greeted the young redhead. He was about the same height as Kanna and Ilulu, and had the same green eyes as the older two girls.

"This little one, trying to hide behind her aunt, is my youngest stepdaughter, Midori," said Erika.

Kobayashi could just see a little face, framed by red hair, peering from behind Astrid's dress.

"My other daughter seems to be extra hyperactive today, and has run off somewhere," said Erika.

Kobayashi then introduced the three girls that were eyeing their group with a mixture of suspicion and uncertainty.

"This is my girlfriend, Tohru, our stepdaughter, Kanna, and Tohru's sister, Ilulu."

The blonde, Tohru, blushed at being referred to as Kobayashi's girlfriend.

While Kobayashi and Erika started to catch up with each other, Mrs Sasakibe took her leave, and Astrid lifted Midori, saying she was going to go find Mizuchi.

Meanwhile, while Tohru was gushing over Kobayashi's compliments, Hikari could hear Ilulu and Kanna whispering. They were too quiet for humans to hear. However, they didn't notice Hikari wasn't human.

"Something doesn't seem right," whispered Ilulu. "This Erika person has no smell."

"I can also smell another dragon nearby," replied Kanna, her voice beginning to growl.

_Oh, smeg!_ Thought Hikari. _They can't smell Erika, because that's only a remote projection ….wait... ANOTHER dragon? ...Mizuchi?... ...what the...?_

++**MechaFaerie1337**: Mizuchi-chan, I think you might need to come back here.

++**CryoDragonPrime**: What's up Hikari-nee?

++**MechaFaerie1337**: We're about to have a situation only you can diffuse.

++**CryoDragonPrime**: What am I? An EOD officer?

++**MechaFaerie1337**: Just get out here, please. Astrid, yellow alert! Keep Midori safe. She's too young to defend herself. Kuroko, be ready to get Hiroshi out of here, if this gets out of hand.

++**IceQueen001**: Got it.

++**WebWeaver101**: I hope you know what you're doing, big sister.

++**VF-NXprototype-DREADWING**: What happened to taking things slowly?!

++**MechaFaerie1337**: No choice. We've been rumbled!

Just as Kanna and Ilulu were about to go medieval on the 'intruders' that were talking to the closest thing they both had for a mother, a girl with bright red hair, and green eyes, dropped down from the upstairs balcony. She looked to be Kanna's size and age (well, the age Kanna's human shape appeared to be).

"Ah, Mizuchi-chan," said Erika. "This is my cousin. Your mother and I named you after her."

Kobayashi looked at the small redhead in front of her. She then noticed the tips of her hair were a pale blue colour.

...and she also had horns...

"Rooftop! Now!" Kobayashi commanded.

…...

**Tokyo, around the same time.**

Kuroko Smith was on her third cup of coffee

The new government Act was in planning for months. Months, dammit! And only now, with only a few days before its official announcement, do they finally authorise us to start finding suitable locations for accommodating cultural exchange visitors.

Some of the laws to be introduced, while important, were clumsily worded. Do they even realise the ramifications of the 'no sex' part of the laws? Sure, it is to protect liminals and humans from taking advantage of cultural ignorance, etc. However it means that it is going to become illegal for single-gender races to procreate. It's almost as if someone wants this important milestone in history to fail.

_Tokyo will be out of the question due to cost of living,_ she thought, _and it's too crowded. We're going to have to consider smaller 'satellite' cities, such as Asaka._

"Hey, Smith," one of her subordinates called out.

"Yes, Manako?"

"We've almost finished preparing a list of the first dozen or so potential sites, but Doppel just found an issue."

"What kind of issue?"

"The town of Oborozuka. The information we've got is either incorrect, or someone has doctored the crime statistics."

"Let me see that," Kuroko said, as she looked at the page in Doppel's hand.

The sheet of paper clearly showed almost no serious crimes in the last twelve months, not even juvenile crime. Even with Japan's low crime rate, this was an anomaly. "It says right here that, until last year, most of the incidents were caused by the 'Dragon Busters' gang. Then, they suddenly stopped."

"Yes," said Doppel. "Literally, all of their activities ceased overnight. The local hospital received a spike in their emergency department one night, with their leader, Joichiro 'Dragon-san The Destroyer' Tomo, in critical condition. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation in a local mental clinic. It seems that he has developed an extreme phobia of maids. Not one of the gang members has been arrested since that night. Even their probation officers have commented on how they are on the fast-track to becoming pillars of society."

"Meido-phobia. In Japan. That's gotta suck," called out a red-haired girl, at the other end of the office. "Maybe they picked a fight with another gang."

"Dressed as maids? Unlikely," said Kuroko. "Besides, no other gang-related incidents have been reported."

Kuroko grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. "Looks like we're going on a road trip. Tio, you'll have to keep that horn hidden under a hat."


	3. Chapter 3

(Chapter 3)

**The rooftop**

As the elevator door opened, Kobayashi turned towards to Erika

"I know Mizuchi-chan is a dragon. So do Kanna-chan and Ilulu. They're getting territorial."

"Mizuchi-chan," said Erika. "You're going to have to show them."

"Fine," Mizuchi reluctantly replied, rainbow-coloured runes already orbiting her.

"That's different," said Kobayashi. "These three generate magic circles when they cast spells."

When the runes disappeared, a three-headed dragon was in the middle of the rooftop common area. She was a deep, almost black, purple, with pale-blue scales along her underside, and the same again for her dorsal spines and the folds of her wings. Ice crystals formed around her heads as she breathed. From the tip of her (middle) head, to the tip of her tail, she was just over four feet long.

"KAAAWWAAAIII!" cried both Tohru and Ilulu simultaneously. The tiny dragon suddenly found herself sandwiched between two ample chests, their owners' hostilities overridden by mothering instincts.

Kanna, eyes dilated, turned to Erika. "She's so small."

"Well, Mizuchi-chan only turned ten years old last week," replied Erika.

"That's a little too accurate for someone to have adopted an abandoned dragon," observed Kobayashi. "Did you find an egg somewhere?"

"Neither," replied Erika. "I was the one holding her mother's hand, as she gave birth to Hiroshi-kun, and then Mizuchi-chan. Apparently, dragon genetic fragments are hidden in the junk-DNA of the human genome. Mizuchi-chan just happened to 'win' the DNA lottery." _Probably because Freya is only half-human_, she thought to herself.

As Erika was explaining this, Kanna noticed that what she initially thought were jewels, diagonally above and below Kuroko's eyes, were actually extra 'mini' eyes. "Kuroko-chan, why do you have six eyes?"

"Because I'm an Arachne," she replied.

"What's an Arachne?"

++**MechaFaerie1337**: See? Even dragons haven't heard of arachne. :P

++**WebWeaver101**: Get bent, Tinkerbell! She's just a kid.

"Kanna-chan, do you know what a centaur is?" asked Kuroko.

"That's the one that's part human, part horse, yes?" she replied.

"Yes. An arachne is similar, but replace the horse part with a giant spider."

"Ohhh! But why don't you have the spider part?"

Kuroko looked at Hikari. "Do you want to explain, or should I?"

**Flashback (Kuroko's POV)-**

The war had been going on for two years, and we were losing. Badly.

The last survivors of the United Nations Self Defence Force were barely holding the lines at Okinawa and Hokkaido, and the Americas were only just handling the invaders, with the alliance of Tejas, New Jotunheim, and Mexico, on the Atlantic coast, trying to push them out of the Albion Thirteen, and the salvaged weapons batteries from Grandmother's wrecked GDC frigate defending the Pacific.

Unfortunately, a Mindflayer managed to get into Harujuku, and opened a portal. Nightgaunts, Psychovores, Soul-stealers, and other 'things' were rampaging throughout the city. My squadron was tasked with evacuating as many civilians as possible to secure shelters. Yes, I was the eldest, but these creatures weren't going to just go "oh! You're just a child? Carry on." On the contrary. Many of these creatures feed on fear, making terrified children choice targets.

While I was rescuing some children from a partially destroyed school building, a six metre tall _**Something**_, with an octopus for a face, smashed the rest of the building on top of me. While I was shielding a young child with my remaining arm, and preparing for the inevitable, a portal opened a few metres in front of me, a figure in pitch-black armour came flying out of it at several hundred kilometres an hour. There was the distinct noise of a blade impacting flesh. I turned my head to see the biggest tank-saw I have ever seen, sticking into the creature.

A demonic voice rumbled from the vicinity of its tentacles

"No weapon forged by man can harm Zwynxtghm!"

An electronically-amplified voice came from the armour

"Were you hiding behind the door when the names with vowels were being handed out? I'm going to call you 'Dumb-ass Trev' simply because you were attacking civilians in front of me."

"Such insolence before my magnificence. Your death will be painful, and slow."

I then witnessed a magic circle form above the head of the creature, so dark, it appeared to swallow the surrounding light.

Almost immediately after, purple runes started orbiting the knight. The magic circle blinked out of existence. A hatch then opened in the front of what turned out to be robot armour. _Straight out of Saturday morning anime,_ I thought. It was piloted by a red-haired fairy.

"As you can see, I'm not human."

For the first time ever, I witnessed terror in the eyes of an extra-dimensional invader.

"Coordinates are locked onto a singularity I passed on my previous jump. I don't need magic to go FTL. Do you? Have a nice trip."

She then switched on the tank-saw, and threw the impaled creature through a newly-formed portal.

Then she turned to me. The last thing I heard, as I was passing out from blood loss was

"Smegging hell! You look just like mother!"

Some time later, I awoke to find myself lying in a hospital bed. Doctors and ...mechanics?.. were looking at me. "Can you feel your arm?" one of them asked. "How about your legs?"

**End Flashback**

"Due to ...circumstances... I had to bring Kuroko and Midori back with me," said Hikari.

"Mama! Aunt Mizuchi! Anyone!" cried Mizuchi. "Get these clucky women off me, please!"

"I suppose we'd better go rescue the poor kid," said Kobayashi. "Tohru! Ilulu! Let go of Mizuchi-chan!"

**Oborozuka Shopping District**

Tohru was taking Kanna, Mizuchi and Hiroshi shopping. Everyone had agreed that they were too large a group to travel together. So, while Miss Kobayashi and Erika caught up properly, the older girls were going to go get fitted for their school uniforms, Tohru's group were going to get the school books, and ingredients for a proper welcoming party.

"**KAAANNNNAAA-CHAAANNN!"** cried out a familiar voice.

Kanna nearly fell over, as her best friend glomped onto her.

"Young miss," said the older Saikawa sister. "We are not a football player."

"But, I haven't seen Kanna for a whole week!" exclaimed Riko.

"Do you need assistance to get her off you?" asked Hiroshi.

"You'd need a crowbar to pry her out of that grip," commented Mizuchi.

"Excuse me, Tohru," asked Sannae. "Who are these two people?"

Tohru introduced everybody to each other.

**Across the road, in front of Cafe Cozy**

A tall, dark-haired woman, wearing a 'government issue' business suit and sunglasses was sitting at an outdoor table, drinking coffee. Opposite her was a very tall blonde woman, wearing a floral sun dress and sun hat, drinking something extremely colourful.

"So, that's Tohru," the dark-haired woman commented. "She definitely looks like a cosplay maid."

"Officer Kuboto mentioned that she was the pride of the local shopping district," said the blonde.

"The local fishmonger said she was married to a local office worker. Strangely, Tohru is listed as being the Head Chef at this Maid Cafe, even though she only works part time."

The dark-haired woman's phone started ringing.

"Hello. Pel-pel? What? We'll be there right away."

**Inside Ouroborozuka Uniform Shop**

"Welcome to my store, dear customers," greeted an old woman. "How may I be of assistance?"

"Good morning, ma'am," replied Hikari, handing over some official-looking documents. "We're here to get fitted for school uniforms. Aunt Astrid starts Middle-school this year. Kuroko, Aunt Ilulu, and I require Ouroborozuka High School uniforms. We were told we need to show these to you."

The shopkeeper took all four documents, and inspected them.

Looking at the four girls in front of her, she could see why they needed specialised uniforms made. At nearly six foot tall, 'Hikari' and 'Kuroko' would already be difficult to find uniforms that fit. Having size 12D hourglass figures would make the task almost impossible.

Even the Middle-school girl was a curvier than average. That must be why they were sent here, instead of the normal school shop.

She then looked towards Ilulu.

_Wait, isn't she the part timer at Mrs Aida's shop,_ she thought.

"Illulu, How old are you?"

"Sixteen," Illulu replied. "I wanted to go to school last year, but the Principal wasn't allowed to make an exception for uniforms back then."

_You poor girl,_ she thought. _Shorter than the average middle-school girl, but more curves than her high school friends_.

"Please charge the costs for the four of us to this account," Hikari said, handing over a credit card, and her GDC identification card.

**++WebWeaver101: **Hikari! What the fuck?

**++IceQueen001:** Yeah, Hikari! What the fuck?

**++MechaFaerie1337:** I know what I'm doing.

"Wow. I haven't seen one of these in years," said the shopkeeper. "I'm Corporal Yamada, retired, formerly of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Answer me this, _Artificer Captain,_ how does a Sixteen year old get a Galactic Defence Command _Officer's_ ID?"


	4. Chapter 4

(Chapter 4)

**Kobayashi's apartment, at the same time**

"So," said Kobayashi. "Now the dragons are distracted, care to tell me about the other thing you're keeping secret?"

"I've been dreading this," said Erika. "My parents haven't even been told. They've only known about relationship with Freya for about a week. However, they probably haven't told your parents, or Grandmother, for the same reason yours hasn't told mine."

"They're afraid of how they'll react to finding out their niece is in a lesbian relationship," replied Kobayashi.

"Yeah. Ironic, isn't it. Freya's father was fine with it. She told him on day one. In her family's culture, 'coming out' is admitting that you know how to use magic. Freya had been hiding _that_ for years, but the circumstances that led to me meeting her forced her hand."

**Twelve years earlier**

Freya was so proud. Her daughter had inherited her mechanical aptitude. She was afraid the corrupted gene-loom had caused issues similar to what had happened to the others. Hikari was obviously extremely intelligent, and even had her enhanced abilities. They were just 'scaled down' due to her smaller size. Mr Takahashi, next door, had invited them to visit, revealing that he had guardianship of a tribe of 'real' fairies. One of his charges had spotted her. They knew she was 'different' to normal fairies, but welcomed her anyway.

Hikari liked to build things. When she was six months old, she had designed and built a suit of exo-armour, complete with holographic micro-projectors, so that she could pass for a human, and explore the neighbourhood.

Not long after that, she decided to build herself a full-sized transforming mecha.

While she was preparing the components for the mecha's battle computer, her magical abilities spontaneously manifested. It turned out that not only was she a Dark Mage, but the clay she was using for the ceramics was from a recently-made unmarked grave.

**++VF-NXprototype-DREADWING:** Where am I? Why is it so dark? Why can't I move? Oh no! I'm still a prisoner!

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Don't blow a circuit. Who are you? Or, to be more accurate; who do you think you are?

**++VF-NXprototype-DREADWING:** My name is Erika Kobayashi. I was supposed to come to New York as an exchange student. It turns out my 'hosts' were part of an international kidnapping ring. They drugged me, and I woke up bound and naked in a basement somewhere. I have no idea if I was there for days or weeks, but they must have finally got bored of doing things to me. The last thing I felt, before waking up here, was a sharp pain in the back of my head. So, are you a prisoner, too?

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Hang on a moment. This is going to be hard to explain.

...light...

...and a fairy?...

"Erika? Can you hear me? Can you see me?"

"Yes," responded a slightly tinny voice."What the hell?"

"Fan-smegging-tastic," said the fairy. "I've temporarily networked you to this laptop, and can show you ...well, you." The view swivelled, to reveal a mecha-otaku's wet dream.

Inside an engineering scaffold was a partially-constructed giant robot. It looked like someone had taken a VF-1A Super Veritech from the Macross anime, and then ramped up the technological upgrades to eleven.

"When this, well ...when you are completed, you will be fully transformable. I've used my dimensional engineering know-how to fit this out with both a FTL and Vectored Impulse drives. I've miniaturised a deflector grid, and cloaking system. Once I've installed the weaponry, you will be equivalent to a GDC frigate. Now that I know you're in there, I'll have to adapt a SHIP unit."

"GDC? SHIP?"

"Galactic Defence Command. My mother works for them. However, she's currently on indefinite leave, so she can raise me. SHIP stands for 'System Holographic Interface Program. I'll have to build a remote projection unit, so you can interact 'normally' with the environment. You're currently on my mother's Mobile Dry-dock"

A six-foot-tall, curvy, redhead walked past the laptop's field of vision. "Wow! Who is that gorgeous vision of loveliness?"

"That would be my mother," replied Hikari. "She kind of gives me free reign of her fabrication facilities."

A few days later, Erika was testing her Remote Projection Unit, on Earth, in Freya's father's mechanics workshop. In the last week, she has found out that aliens are real and fairies are real.

...and now, as a couple of blonde women walked into the workshop, vampires are real...

One of Freya's cousins was married to a vampire. Her wife was a liaison between the FBI, and the San Francisco Vampire Council. Their cover was as the owners of 'Nightclub Draculina' (it was actually a safe house and field hospital for both agencies).

Apparently, some yakuza boss wanted the nightclub for a front. He bribed a few government officials, and framed Nina's and Cammy's head bouncer for murder (i.e. 'play ball with us, and the charges will disappear').

"The murder victim that they were framing them for happened to be me," said Erika

"Wow," said Kobayashi. "So, do Uncle Shiro and Aunt Maria know?"

"No. They have no idea that I have gained a few tonnes, since I last saw them," replied Erika.

Kobayashi laughed.

"It did end up getting complicated. I was actually telling Mum and Dad about my 'new job' at Atrax Engineering, Research and Development, when the Okinawa police knocked on their door, to inform them of my death."

"Fuuuck," said Kobayashi.

"Yeah. Because the existence of non-humans was classified, I couldn't tell them," said Erika. "They were really livid. Dad actually handed the phone to the officer at the door, 'to speak to the so-called dead person.'"

"I can see how that would cause issues."

"The 'official' cover story for the Japanese Justice Department was the Los Angeles DA's office had misfiled a missing person report they were sent from New York."

**Outside the uniform shop**

Two women are sitting on a bench, eating Takoyaki. The redhead was dressed as a delinquent biker, the dark-haired woman, next to her was wearing a cosplay high school 'uniform' of some kind.

"That is Illulu," said the redhead. "She works part time at the local candy shop. She's obviously not human.

"_Obviously_. Horns, pointy ears, and those proportions," said her companion. "However, I am more concerned about the two six-foot redheads."

"Why is that?"

"You haven't seen the uniforms Smith has designed for when MON becomes 'official' yet," she replied, as she pushed some buttons on her cellphone. "Hey, Smith! It's Doppel. We've got a situation. How soon can you and Tio get here?"

**inside**

Mrs Yamada was only mildly surprised to see the six-foot-tall girl suddenly become a six-inch-tall fairy.

"This is why I have a GDC identification card, Mrs Yamada," said Hikari. "The documents I gave you were authorisation from the Department of Education to provide school uniforms outside of the regular tender process. My GDC identification is for a uniform in _this_ size."

"I understand. I take it the beige and black uniform is just cosplay?" asked Mrs Yamada.

"Technically," replied Kuroko. "It's actually the uniform from an alternate timeline, so it's cosplay now."

Rings of purple runes surrounded Hikari, and she was back to 'normal' size again. "Still can't get that to last for more than six hours," grumbled Hikari.

"Let's start getting you all measured then," said Mrs Yamada.

* * *

**outside**

Agents Smith and Tionisha met up with Zombina and Doppel at the bench. Smith was talking on the phone. "Are you in position, Manako?" _What was that flash of purple?_

Looking into the store front, she could see what was concerning Doppel. Accompanying this Illulu girl were three other girls. The two tall ones were wearing uniforms that _EXACTLY_ matched the uniforms that were currently being manufactured in Tokyo, for her Monster Ops Neutralisation division.

"Either we have a security leak," said Doppel, "or there are some cosplayers got really lucky with their colours."

**inside**

While Illulu was being measured for her uniform, the other girls were sitting on some nearby chairs, listening to the radio. There was a jingle from the door, as someone entered.

"I'll be with you in a moment," Mrs Yamada called out from inside the dressing room.

"Take your time," said the new customer.

**IceQueen001:** Why have you two gone pale?

**MechaFaerie1337:** We know that person.

**WebWeaver101:** She's this world's version of my godmother.

**IceQueen001:** Really? Keep calm. She doesn't know either of you. She's obviously just here as a customer

The newcomer sat herself down next to Kuroko.

"Nice costumes, Miss uh-Kobayashi," she said, looking at the nameplate on Kuroko's uniform.

"T-thanks," replied Kuroko. "I've had this for a while."

"It looks very well made," she replied. "So does Miss O'Reilly's costume. They look almost like the real thing."

Kuroko raised her right arm. "We had to use good materials, otherwise the sleeve would tear whenever I pulled it over this prosthetic."

The newcomer looked at the indicated arm, and realised that it wasn't a costume prop. She could faintly hear the actuators in the fingers, as 'Kobayashi' flexed her hand.

Mrs Yamada brought Illulu out of the dressing room.

"Your new uniforms should be ready before school starts." She then looked towards the other girls. "I'll just tend to this customer, before I measure Kuroko-chan. A sleeve that will fit around that arm will need some extra measurements."

The newcomer stood up and greeted Mrs Yamada.

"Good morning, my name is Miss Smith. In a few days, we're opening some government offices nearby, and I am just scouting local tailors for sourcing and repairing staff uniforms."

She handed over a business card, and turned back towards the girls. "I might see you again sometime," she said in a voice that strongly implied 'I _will_ see you again, very soon.'

Miss Smith then exited the shop.

**WebWeaver101:** You know she's going to find out where we live.

**MechaFaerie1337:** We'll figure something out. If she's anything like General Smith, a few decent cups of coffee should keep her friendly.

**IceQueen101:** We're still going to have to inform your parents.


	5. Chapter 5

(chapter 5)

**Elsewhere**

Clemene was worried. His spies in the city of Red Lake reported that the mayor was frantically working with the Merchants' Guild, and the owner of 'The Emperor's Flame' inn, for some sort of big meeting. Other spies around the land mentioned that mayors from the neighbouring towns and villages, including ones populated by non-humans, were going to be in attendance.

"It's just like that Chaos scum to court disaster, by letting centaurs and the like into a city," said one of Clemene's subordinates. "They are nothing more than animals, yet the Emperor of Demise insists on giving them the same 'rights' as the humans in his domains."

"We could 'encourage' that disaster," said another subordinate. "A few silver coins could arrange it."

===/===

**Geosynchronous orbit, Dragon Homeworld, above Red Lake City**

"We are parked at the specified location," said a voice. "Placing reactors into cool-down mode. We nearly blew the FTLs with that stunt, Captain."

"Thanks, Seamus," said Freya. "I'll have to get Odin and Ivan to run some diagnostics and repairs."

"Answer this for me," said the person next to Freya. "How did you get something this large over here without using magic?"

"Six antimatter reactors and realigning three FTL drives," replied Freya. "Most of my crew will remain on board."

"Not much choice, since most of us are SHIPs," interjected Seamus. "Stormcloud and her brother, Deathbolt, are the only non-holographic crew you have. Hikari's fangirl doesn't count."

"Stormcloud? _Deathbolt?_ Really?" asked Magatsuchi.

"Yeah," replied Freya, slightly embarrassed. "Technically, they're my little brother and sister. They're what you would call ...chuunibyo?... They'll meet us in the hangar bay."

===/===

**Town Square, Red Lake City**

Hans was both proud and worried. Proud, because the Emperor of Demise chose his city for an important summit. Worried, because it was only his first term as Mayor, and his future is riding on the results of the summit. The local Duke and his Barons had already commandeered almost every inn and tavern, many of them making outrageous demands of their owners. The 'mystery diplomat' they were expecting, surprisingly, had very few demands. They weren't even demands. The letter he was given just specified special furniture for their retinue's rooms.

Hilda, his sister, and the owner of 'The Emperor's Flame' nearly fainted. They only requested three rooms, and didn't just demand the entire inn to themselves, and _asked_ for king-size beds in each of the bodyguards' rooms, and that there wasn't to be any wooden furniture in the diplomat's room. The diplomat even _paid_ _ for the rooms and the furniture_ with a bag of gemstones, included with the letter.

===/===

Hans' retinue, consisting of the Captain of the Watch and leaders of the local guilds, nervously waited near the fountain at the centre of the Town Square. The local watchmen were keeping people from straying into the area. At the northern end of the Square, he could faintly hear Baron Freidric demanding that they move aside. Obviously, the vacuous glory hound was trying to take over the proceedings. _How did he find out the diplomat's party was coming early?_

Suddenly, a collective gasp went through the crowd, as four people appeared, surrounded by rings of emerald-green runes (except for the Baron, who was too busy trying to assert his authority to notice his surroundings).

Hans immediately recognised Archmage Magatsuchi. Just behind him was a six-foot-tall red haired woman, wearing commoner's clothes, and flanking the two of them were what looked like Dragonewts, except they were 10 feet tall. For a brief second, he thought the Archmage was the expected diplomat, until the Archmage stepped to one side and addressed the welcoming party. "Mayor Wainwright, allow me to introduce Artificer Captain O'Reilly. She is the duly appointed representative of the Galactic Defence Command. This is Captain Cartwright, he's in charge of the city watch. His wife Hilda owns the inn you'll be staying in."

"Mr Magatsuchi," said Freya. "Thank you for introducing me. Do you need me to Gate you home, or do you have further business in the area?"

"My business is concluded here," he replied. "I need to go back to the office. I'll see myself off." A portal then opened behind Freya's group, and Mr Magatsuchi made his leave.

"Now I know why you requested the beds," Mrs Cartwright said, looking up at the Dragonewts. "But why the 'no wooden furniture' request?"

Freya looked towards a nearby flowerbed. "Mayor Wainwright, Captain, this is for Mrs Cartwright's eyes only. Understood?"

She then led Mrs Cartwright to the flowerbed, removing one of her gloves as she walked. Mrs Cartwright noticed the flowers were actually turning to face the O'Reilly woman as they got closer. She then placed her bare hand onto a patch of empty soil.

Flowers sprouted up immediately on contact. "I developed a _slight _curse, from suppressing my magical abilities when I was a child," whispered Freya. "If I slept on a wooden bed, you'd have a forest growing out of your inn before sunrise."

"Oh dear," whispered Mrs Cartwright. "How will you sleep?" _Such a terrible curse,_ she thought.

"Get your staff to remove the furniture from my room. Buy or hire a boat sail, for the floor, and string a hammock above that, or put a mattress on top of it. I'm not fussy."

"But, you're a diplomat."

"So? I'm not going to ruin someone's livelihood for my own personal needs."

Freya replaced her glove, and returned to the welcoming party.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think we should continue these formalities over lunch," declared Freya. "Preferably, somewhere the Rupert on my six will not barge in."

"The what?" asked Mayor Wainwright.

"I understand," laughed Captain Cartwright. "The cook at the watch house is pretty good. No Rupert would be caught dead in our building. It would harm their reputation. Your bodyguards should be able to enter through the coach house doors."

===/===

**Elsewhere**

"What? Magatsuchi wasn't the person they were expecting," said Clemene.

"We don't know who it is," replied one of his spies.

"It looks like they've only sent a couple of Dragonewts, and some peasant girl, to check that the accommodations are adequate," said another. "The innkeeper's maids even took out a bedframe, and brought in a boat sail and cheap mattress."

"The peasant must be the diplomat's slave," concluded Clemene. "She isn't even considered worthy of her own bed. Ignore her for now, and find out who the Dragonewts serve."

===/===

**Red Lake Watch House (outside)**

Baron Freidric was livid. Not only did the insolent Sergeant-at-arms fail to let him join the commoners in the Town Square, but now it seems that the three people Archmage Magatsuchi arrived with were just some advanced security detail. He stared out of his coach's window at the front doors to the Watch House.

He wanted to know what they were doing in there, but someone of his noble lineage should not be seen in such an establishment. He looked down at the cat-girl that was kneeling in front of him.

"Slave," he never bothered to learn their names. "I will excuse you from servicing me for a whole half-day, if you report to me everything the merchant's guild is discussing with that red haired commoner. Do you understand?"

He unlocked her leash, and she wrapped her raggy blanket over herself as best as she could. The coach door was opened, and the girl slunk out.

"She's entered the building," reported one of the footmen.

"It better not take too long," said the Baron. "Wait out here for her. I'm returning to my hotel. As a reward, you can use her as you please for a whole half-day. After all, I am a man of my word."

===/===

**Red Lake Watch House (inside)**

"You're joking! Someone couldn't be that stupid," called out one of the watchmen.

The drinks had been flowing freely for quite a while. The six-foot redhead looked them straight in the eye.

"Apparently they were," replied Freya. "They were so used to abusing their power, they couldn't accept that someone else had enough power they didn't feel threatened by them. Several good things did come out of the situation. One of them was we found out the corrupt prosecutor had been hiring criminals to kidnap girls and young women. Do not ask me what condition we found some of them in when we raided their hideout."

"Those bastards," the watchman replied.

"Never underestimate a human's ability to redefine what the word 'monster' really means," stated Freya. "Many of you will have experienced that first-hand, and I hope the rest of you never do. As for the kidnappers, they were given the choice of being dealt with by us, the local law enforcement, or the Vampire Council. Most of them chose wrong."

Captain Cartwright put down his drink. "I have to ask," he said. "Out of curiosity, why do those two call you their big sister?"

"Because I am," replied Freya.

"How do I translate this? Many years ago, my mother modified a small skiff into a racing vessel. She participated in, and won, several events. Unfortunately, her last race saw her caught in a severe storm, knocking her off course. The man, who would later become my father, found mother's wrecked ship, and broke his way in, checking for survivors. The security ...umm...spells... that were on the vessel weren't working properly, and only activated when he was carrying mother outside. There wasn't enough power, and everything went dormant not long after. Skip ahead to about 3 years ago, when I finally located where the wreck was. While I was recovering the ships logs, and seeing what parts I could salvage, I accidentally reactivated those security spells. The vessel then created those two over there, using blood samples from my mother and father. However, they weren't created properly, and didn't have any memories or behaviours installed. They may be fully-grown, but they are still basically little kids."

"**Kitty!**" Stormcloud's voice called out.

"Oh no," said Freya, as she saw a human-feline hybrid squirming in Stormcloud's arms.

She saw her brother reach toward the squirming girl, a look of curiosity on his face, when Stormcloud pulled her closer to her chest.

"No! My kitty!" she exclaimed.

_**CRAAACK!**_

The metal collar around the girl's neck split in two, falling to the floor. Magic sigils briefly glowed on their surfaces, before fading away. On the girl's chest, formed a symbol. It was made up of lilac, pink, and yellow lines, forming a stylised dragon's head.

It also happened to be what Stormcloud used to 'sign' her drawings and paintings.

===/===

Stormcloud was worried. Her big sister was walking slowly towards her.

_Maybe she wants to take my kitty away, _she thought, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Calm down, little sister," Freya said quietly. "I'm just checking to see if your friend is okay. That metal necklace looked like it was on too tight."

_She doesn't want to take kitty? That's okay._

"Hello," said Freya. "What is your name?"

No response.

"Do you have a name?"

This time, the girl shook her head.

_She doesn't have a name? That's not right. Even Deathbolt and myself chose names for ourselves._

"Didn't your mummy give you a name?' asked Stormcloud.

Another head shake.

"Then I'll just have to give my new kitty a name," Stormcloud happily declared. "I'll name you ...umm... Razorfang! Yes, Razorfang is the perfect name."

_Why did big sister slap her own face?_

===/===

"Stormcloud," said Freya. "You're going to have to be responsible for looking after your new friend."

"Razorfang," said Stormcloud.

"Fine. ...Razorfang... She needs new clothes, and whoever put that col- necklace on her has been been hurting her, so you'll need to get either Calliope or Andromeda to have a look at her."

Freya then looked back at Razorfang. "When was the last time you ate," she asked.

"...three days ago..." came a barely-audible reply.

Stormcloud was crying. Through the tears, she could just decipher "What kind of meanie hurts and starves a poor little kitty?"

_I've got to keep reminding myself, they're still little kids, _thought Freya. _They didn't get the same memory uploads as Hikari._

Freya looked down at the broken collar. "Captain Cartwright, can you identify who used to own her? I'm going to have to inform them that they no longer have her as their slave, and any ideas to the contrary will have to be 'discussed' with me."

"That's easy," said the captain. "The crest on that tag belongs to Baron Freidric."

"The Rupert? This will be interesting," she said, as she grabbed a helmet and cape from a passing constable. "Could you watch these two, please? I don't want them to see me deck a lolicon."


	6. Chapter 6

(chapter 6)

**Red Lake City**

Kahl'ryleh-hophiit took a breath, and opened the door to the coaching yard of the watch house. So many armed humans made her nervous, but she had a job to do. It didn't take her long to spot the twins. Stormcloud was trying to feed a cat-girl some soup. Deathbolt had, somehow, acquired some cloth, sewing needle, thread, and tailor's scissors. It was slightly disconcerting watching someone so muscular doing such delicate movements.

_Why does my heart skip a beat every time I see him?_ she thought.

"Deathbolt, what are you doing?"

"Making the kitty a dress," he replied. He then stage-whispered "her clothes fell apart, and Stormcloud's arm is the only thing stopping everyone from seeing her boobies."

Kahl'ryleh-hophiit turned to face Stormcloud, and held up the medical pack that was in her hand.

"Freya said the kitty was hurt, so Andromeda sent me down with some stuff. Do you want to take her somewhere quiet, so I can check her over? She can borrow my cloak until your brother has finished making the dress."

There was a collective gasp from all of the watchmen, as she removed her cloak. The cat-girl instinctively tried to make herself smaller. The woman standing in front of them stood just over six foot tall, with an additional foot for both of the horns that encircled her head, she had pale blue skin, pointed ears, white hair, and an additional set of arms, ending in white feathers. They were similar to the arms on a harpy, including the little thumb. Her legs were also similar to a harpy's legs, except for her 'feet' having three claws at the front and two talons at the back.

"You look like you've never seen a Psyren before," Kahl'ryleh-hophiit said to the nearest watchman.

"Don't be scared, kitty," said Deathbolt. "Calliope is nice. She gives the best hugs."

Kahl'ryleh-hophiit turned beet-red.

_Why did he have to say that in public?_

===/===

"Alright," said the scary bird-person. She was holding a strange talisman. "First, I'm going to use this to see how badly you're hurt. Andromeda called it a portable medical bio-scanner. It's some sort of magic item that has been enchanted to show if you're sick or injured." She moved it closer. She mumbled to herself, while fiddling with parts of the device, as if she was remembering instructions from a list.

As she was moving the talisman over her, various expressions showed on her face. "Not even Dark Elves are this evil," she whispered, with a look of sadness on her face. "This bag doesn't have healing scrolls, but I'm sure the tools in it come pretty close. I just need this." She used a pair of bandage scissors to remove a small lock of hair from her patient.

"This goes into here," she mumbled, while handling a device from the bag. "Stormcloud, I'm going to have to sedate your friend, so she can be healed."

The scary, but confusingly safe-feeling, dragonewt looked conflicted. "Calliope, are you sure you're not going to hurt my kitty?"

"She'll be fine," she replied. "She needs to be asleep while the little robots in this device fix her old fractures, heal the chemical burns on her larynx ...and regrow her front teeth... The bad person who used to own your kitty hurt her a lot. If your older sister saw this list of injuries, she would be doing more than punching him in the face."

===/===

Freya and the sergeant-at-arms returned to the watch house.

With her 'disguise' removed, she took stock of the current situation. Most of the off-duty watchmen were taking advantage of the food and beer she supplied them with. Stormcloud was cuddling her 'kitty' (the name 'Razorfang' still ground on her soul). The object of her affections currently looked like she was working through several conflicting emotions. She was wearing a frilly pink and white dress, with ribbons in her hair, and on her tail.

"Where did the dress come from?"

"Your little brother seems to have developed a talent as a tailor," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit. She was currently in the arms of Deathbolt, blushing happily.

"Do I need to remind you that my brother is only three?"

"That's why I'm only hugging. I'm as immortal as you and the Great Titania are. I can wait for when he's ready."

"Why do you still call my daughter that?"

"Because She is, even if She refuses to accept it. I followed Her path, and I was rewarded. Further proof is that both you and Her can correctly speak my name. If I have to wait another 15 years, it just means She is teaching me the lesson of patience. Besides that, he likes my hugs."

"Why does the scary bird-person talk like that?" came a quiet voice from Stormcloud's general direction."

"She thinks she saw the Avatar of one of her people's gods," replied Freya.

"I don't think it," interjected Kahl-ryleh'hophiit. "I_ know_ it. While I was in Tezcatlipoca's sacrifice pen, for refusing to slay indiscriminately, I awaited my doom. Then, as he was forcing one of the local deities, Quetzalcoatl, to witness his slaughter, She appeared though a sacred gateway. She was wearing enchanted armour, and wielding a holy sword. She brought Divine Judgement on an Abomination who would seek to do harm to innocents. Later, while I prayed for the soul of the slain goddess, I witnessed the Great Titania challenge the god, and then punch him out in one hit. I was there when she gathered up the body of the slain goddess, and resurrected her."

"What the fuck?! Kahl'ryleh-hophiit?!" exclaimed Freya. "Hikari promised me she wouldn't perform necromancy again."

===/===

**Inside Cafe Cozy**

Hikari sneezes.

===/===

"She then called down warriors from heaven, to drive away the invading monsters," continued Kahl'ryleh-hophiit. "She asked that they heal Quetzalcoatl properly, and that Tezcatlipoca be severely punished. She even gave specific details about the punishment. All that they asked in return was for the surviving members of some disowned princess be taken with Her. True to Her word, she took the two arachne girls, even declaring them to be Her sisters. I could not return home. I would be killed as a traitor, so I followed behind, jumping through each of Her sacred gateways before they closed."

"So, now there's going to be five of us at the inn. Great," groaned Freya.

===/===

**Emperor's Flame Inn**

Freya woke to the sound of purring. Turning her head to the right, she saw Razorfang. She was sleeping, bundled in the bed's blankets, with a smile on her face. It was probably the first time she'd ever slept in a warm bed.

Speaking of warm ...if Razorfang has all of the blankets...

A white feathery arm was draped over her. Looking to her left, she looked straight into a set of yellow eyes.

"I came in to check on the cat, and you looked cold," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit, a blush forming on her face.

"Is there a reason your hand is up my shirt?"

"Is there a reason yours is groping my ass?"

For the first time ever, Kahl-ryleh'hophiit saw Freya's face turn beet-red.

"I know you haven't had much intimate contact with the poltergeist since the young arachne has started climbing into your bed. I don't mind being a substitute for her, until your brother is of age."

"I chose Erika to be my wife."

"So? Andromeda showed me your peoples' laws. You're allowed concubines, Princess."

_Traitorous crew,_ thought Freya.

"P-princess?" said a shaky voice from inside the blankets. "W-what do you m-mean p-princess?"

"You weren't supposed to know about that, either," Freya said, looking pointedly at the Psyren.

"Your chief engineer blabbed," she replied.

"Little kitty," the Psyren addressed the other girl in the bed. "That joke of a Baron isn't going to be able to lay claim to you, because your new owner is the little sister of a Princess. This Princess. She just hides her status behind her rank."

There was a sharp intake of breath, followed by sobs. "D-do I need to s-service you? Am I g-going to be p-punished for s-stealing the b-blankets?"

The girl suddenly felt two sets of arms (and a set of wings) surrounding her.

"That life is behind you now," said Freya. "I had you share this bed because I didn't want Stormcloud to accidentally crush you in her sleep. She doesn't realise her own strength, and has 'cuddled to death' several of her plushies in her sleep."

"S-so," asked Razorfang. "W-why is the s-scary bird-person here?"

"Because I like Deathbolt's hugs," replied the Psyren. "I also have a thing for curvy redheads." She narrowly dodged a flying pillow. "Oooh! Using telekinesis. Imagine what fun things you could do in bed, even with your hands full."

All three girls blushed at the images invoked by that comment, a line of drool forming on the corner of the Psyren's mouth.

"I need to go for a walk," said Freya. "You two can go back to sleep for another couple of hours."

===/===

Freya walked out of the bakery, carrying a bag of assorted pastries in one hand, and eating a freshly made pie in the other.

She didn't ask what was in it, and the baker didn't say. You never enquire about the contents of a pie at 4 in the morning. It was a universal law.

It still tasted good. She was also aware that there was a person 'hiding' in the alley, with a length of fencepost in his hand, across the street. He was completely oblivious to the fact that Freya had been aware of them for some time.

"A girl like you shouldn't be walking alone in a place like this," said a gravelly voice on her six. "There are a lot of dangerous people around. Maybe you should accompany Masher, GBH, and myself to somewhere more appropriate."

_Not this cliché,_ she thought, as another person exited each of the alleys on her ten and two. One had a length of lead pipe. "The boss didn't appreciate your lunchtime visit, so we're going to have some fun with you before we trade you back to your owner for the cat."

"My owner? I don't have an owner. You've got your wires crossed," replied Freya.

"Your 'employer' then. The bird woman. What wires?"

"Translation error. I meant you've got the wrong idea."

"Don't get smart," he said, placing his hand on Freya's shoulder. "There are four of us and only one of you."

"Then go get more men. I can wait," she responded, still casually eating her pie. "In the meantime, remove that hand from me, or I'll remove it from you."

===/===

**Elsewhere**

"We've worked out the diplomat is come sort of bird-person," said a spy. "The male Dragonewt is her lover, and the peasant girl is of no consequence."

"Excellent," said Clemene. "We have several opportunities to gather leverage for the talks to fail."

"Red Lake brings in a lot of money in trade," replied another voice. "Money that we could use for our own goals."

"Maybe we should warn them about what can happen if they involve themselves with the Chaos faction," said Clemene.

===/===

**Red Lake City**

Sergeant Cooper didn't know whether to be outraged, or impressed.

When one of the apprentice bakers came running up to his patrol, saying four guys were about to assault a young woman, he thought he was going to arrive at the scene he didn't want his newest recruit to see on his first ever night patrol. However, instead of the rookie being traumatised by seeing his first ever rape victim, the rookie was throwing up his supper at the sight in front of him.

What witnesses were there said it happened so fast that each of them only saw a fraction of what happened. On the ground were four bruisers, known to be in the employ of one of Baron Freidric's cronies. One was clutching his wrist, trying to stem the bleeding from where his hand used to be. There were weapons scattered around the entire area. _...and is that a tree sapling in that guys leg?.._

Standing in the middle of them, swaying slightly, was the girl Captain Cartwright introduced him to near the start of his shift.

"Captain O'Reilly, are you alright?"

"Not really," she replied, turning around. Sticking out of her chest was an assassin's dagger. "Damn enchanted weapons. I knew he was pissed, but I didn't know he was 'four thugs and an assassin' pissed. This hurts like crazy. Luckily the blade missed both my hearts."

"Why did you walk out here by yourself?"

"She didn't," replied a voice from above them.

Kahl'ryleh-hophiit dropped the unconscious assassin in front of the sergeant. "The Baron wanted Freya alive. This was someone else," she said, as she caught Freya's falling body.


	7. Chapter 7

(chapter 7)

**Emperor's Flame Inn**

Razorfang was being hugged by Stormcloud., and Deathbolt was hugging Calliope, who was being stared down by a scary old man. He had a long white beard, wore a dark red cloak, and had penetrating eyes.

"Where is your Ambassador? I have been hearing stories about a brawl," said the old man.

"She's back on the ship, with a blade in her chest," replied Calliope. "An assassin took advantage of a 'disagreement' with a local Baron. If Freya had been any other race, she'd be dead. The blade our doctor is trying to remove was magically sharpened. It would even able to penetrate dragon-scale. It had the same qualities as a miniature Paladin's blade."

"What?!"exclaimed the old man

"The assassin even has other Paladin gear on her."

"Where is she now?"

"She's currently in the brig. She'll be one unhappy elf when she regains consciousness."

"What's this disagreement?" he asked.

"He's still under the impression that he owns her," Calliope indicated towards Razorfang.

"Does he?"

"Not according to the witnesses at the watch house. Stormcloud declared the cat-girl as hers, and the collar she was wearing broke. Proof of Stormcloud's ownership is indelibly marked on her skin. It took a lot of doctoring to heal her previous injuries, too. Besides, doesn't one of your country's laws allow someone of a higher status to 'requisition' property from someone of a lower status?"

"It does."

"Well, last time I checked, 'princess' outranked 'baron' yes?"

===/===

**Geosynchronous Orbit**

...beep-beep, beep-beep...

"Both of her hearts are still beating," said Andromeda. "I can't teleport the blade out, and the only way to physically remove it is to disarm the enchantments."

"I don't know anyone with the ability to deactivate a Holy weapon," said the old man.

"I know someone who can dispel the enchantments," said Calliope. "But the Captain specifically ordered that she cannot set foot on the Dragons' world until the negotiations are completed."

"Oh dear," muttered Andromeda. "She's not going to like that."

===/===

**Oborozuka**

A dimensional portal opens on the roof of an apartment building, and a figure wearing a cloak exits it.

===/===

"Calliope, it's 6AM why are you here?" asked Mizuchi.

"Freya is injured, and we need the Great Titania."

"HIIIKAAARRRIII! Come quickly! Mum's been hurt!"

===/===

**Brig, Mobile Dry-dock 'Irish Rose'**

"Care to explain to me why you chose her as your target," said a voice.

"Client confidentiality prevents me from revealing those details," replied the elf.

"That answer would work if you were an assassin, or a mercenary. I even respect that sort of business ethic," replied the voice. "However, your trappings mark you as a Paladin, and they're required by law to leave a list of charges with their targets."

_How does she know the rules?_ thought the elf.

"Your target survived, by the way," said the voice. "Rule one for assassinations is to be sure accepting the job isn't going to bite you in the ass."

A red-haired sylph appeared in the elf's view. There was a white-feathered Psyren behind her.

"You will tell me everything, Galadriel," said the sylph. "Even if I have to drag it from your mind."

Galadriel had one last coherent thought, before terror overwhelmed her _How did she know my name?_

===/===

The Emperor of Demise stood by the hospital bed.

"I didn't realise Clemene's followers would go so far to disrupt the talks."

"I couldn't believe he'd send a twelve-year-old," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit.

"He targeted mother because he thought he was sending a warning to the ambassador," replied Hikari. "He thought Kahl'ryleh-hophiit was the ambassador, and she was her servant."

"Why didn't she want you here?"

"She doesn't want undue influence on your fey-folk," explained Hikari. "Every world I have travelled to, they believe me to be the reincarnation of their ancestral Queen. Exhibit A, behind me," she indicated towards the Psyren, "is part Dark Elf, and only stopped following me around because she has a crush on my uncle." She paused, as if listening to something. "And my mother, apparently."

The Psyren blushed. _No one can keep secrets from the Great Titania._

===/===

**Oborozuka High School, a few days later**

"OOOOOH! Take-kun, mwah, mwah, mwah!" said a chorus of boys.

"Come on, guys! Quit it," groaned Taketo.

A couple of girls looked at each other. "What are they teasing Aida-san about, now?"

"Didn't you hear about the new transfer students?" asked a voice behind them. They turned, to see their friend Sannae behind them.

"I heard two were foreigners, and the other one was the girl...from...the...candy... OH!" Realisation bloomed on both girls' faces.

===/===

"The first day of the year, and you're already breaking the rules," said the snarky girl at the desk. "There is no way those are regulation school uniforms, and are you seriously trying to wear cosplay items into school grounds."

Vice Principal Shirada turned towards the commotion. Student Council President Tomiko Hirada liked to throw her authority around, and had obviously chosen to target two of the new transfers. Two six-foot-tall redheads were currently in front of the desk, being told to remove the items that were 'offending' her. The one without glasses was glaring daggers at her, while simultaneously trying to comfort the one with glasses and what looked like a robotic arm. ...oh...

"Tomiko-chan," Shirada asked. "What is going on here?"

"They refused to relinquish their non-regulation accessories," she replied. "So I tried to forcibly remove them."

"You did read the information pack on the new transfers, didn't you?"

"O-of course I did."

"Then you would have read that Kuroko-chan has an experimental prosthetic arm."

"..uh..." she went pale, as realisation hit her. "Oopsie?"

"Oopsie?!" glared Hikari. "She's nearly had her arm torn off her. Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me- er...the doctors... to integrate the arm to Kuroko's nervous system?"

"That information pack was important," chided Shirada. "We might have to consider reorganising the Student Council, if you are unwilling to follow your responsibilities."

This time, Hirada glared daggers at the twins.

===/===

**Oborozuka Elementary School**

"Kanna-chan, Kanna-chan," said a group of young children. "Is it true the new students are your cousins?"

"Yes," replied Kanna. "One of their mothers is Kobayashi's cousin."

The twins were already attracting a crowd.

"Are you from Ushishir Island too?" asked one of the curious children.

"No," replied Hiroshi, "We were born on Mama-Freya's ship. She was on her way back from visiting her grandfather. Mama-Erika held her hand while we were being born."

"So, you have two mummys, like Kanna does," said another child. "That's cool. Benihana used to tease me a lot, for having two daddys. Kanna gave him a big telling-off."

"The man who was going to be our daddy ran off when he found out Mama-Freya was pregnant," said Mizuchi. "He said that his daddy would disown him, if he married a mere mechanic's daughter, so he ditched her."

"That's just mean," she replied. "At least your other mummy stayed."

"I was there, just before Christmas, when he tried to get back with Mama-Freya," said Mizuchi. "Mama-Erika kicked him in the groin, and called him all sorts of names, while Grandpa Pat tried to cover my ears. Mama-Erika really loves Mama-Freya."

===/===

**Oborozuka Middle-school**

"Where do you think you're going, freak!" called a voice.

Shouta turned, automatically. This time it wasn't directed at him. He noticed Astrid and Galadriel had also turned to see what was happening.

A young girl, also another first-year, was being intimidated by a third-year with a delinquent-style haircut and his two cronies. The girl was a little shorter than average, had pale skin, and light blue hair. Her hairclips looked like little snowflakes, and she was wearing her winter jumper, even though it was relatively warm weather. "Is she a yuki-onna?" Shouta and Galadriel both commented.

"Let me deal with this," said Astrid.

===/===

"Are you gits that pissweak, you need three of you to get the courage up to talk to a four-foot girl?"

"Fuck off, hafu," said one of the cronies. "We're dealing with a freaky ice demon thing."

"Really? What proof do you have, baldy?"

"Look at her," he replied. "You can tell just by looking at her."

"Does that mean I can stick a tranq dart into mullet-boy there?" She indicated towards the other crony. "He looks like a shaved gorilla." Now she had the attention of both cronies. Perfect.

Delinquent turned to look at who dared to defy his presence. The school grounds were his to rule. Even the teachers were hesitant to defy him, as his father was a respected businessman, and his mother was on the school board. The first thing he saw was a red-haired girl, with big boobs, massaging her right hand. Once he finally dragged his eyes away from her chest, he noticed his two cronies on the ground. One was rolling around, clutching his groin. The other was in tears, his left eye already swelling from the punch. She then looked up towards him, her blue-green eyes narrowed. He turned to grab the smaller girl, who was still cowering from earlier, when he suddenly found his arms and legs encased in ice.

"I knew you were an ice demon, bitch," he spat.

The small girl risked looking up. The tall redhead clasped her hand, and helped her to stand. She then faced the bully, and said eight words that nearly made her pass out.

"It wasn't her. The school has two yuki-onnas."


	8. Chapter 8

_[The Museum of Cryptozoology (and their rescue mission) belongs to Claidheamh Mohr, the Island of Sparassus belongs to Tarmo Flake, and the village of Okutama belongs to Endelstadt]_

(chapter 8)

**ICEP branch office, Tokyo**

Smith had a pile of paperwork on her desk. Most of the documents were to do with "independent" organisations, many of which didn't even know about the existence of each other, that ICEP were currently in negotiation with, in order to properly safeguard the rights of humans and non-humans when the "Big Announcement" goes public.

A few years ago, the Museum of Cryptozoology had changed, from being part of the 'tinfoil hat brigade' to being a legitimate research museum, thanks to donations from various benefactors. There were even a few rumours they had rescued a family of non-humans, mere minutes before a patrol of religious extremists found their settlement.

Currently, they're archiving and preserving records from a Jotun elder in an undisclosed location.

Another incident was 12 years ago, state and federal laws in the USA had been secretly amended to include non-humans. Apparently, a non-human had been accused of murdering a Japanese exchange student, Erika Kobayashi, and someone called F. O'Reilly revised every single piece of state and federal legislation, just so the accused would have a fair trial, even if it was in a closed court.

…_wait a moment... Kobayashi, O'Reilly. ...where have I seen those names before?..._

"Doppel! Get the others!"

===/===

**Oborozuka shopping district**

Tohru was just entering the shopping district, when Mr Toda, the fishmonger, came rushing up to her. He had his portable radio in his hand.

"Tohru-chan, have you heard the news?" he asked, excitedly. "The government has officially recognised the existence of non-humans." He lowered his voice, "you don't have to pretend any more."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," whispered Tohru.

"The entire retailers association knows," he whispered back. "We've just been keeping it quiet."

"Why?"

"Dragons attract good luck. Besides that, my wife is a mermaid. Causing trouble for you could lead to trouble for her."

===/===

**In transit, between Tokyo and Oborozuka**

Smith's phone chimed while she was driving.

"Manako, check that for me," she said, as she ran another red light.

Manako looked at the message alert on the phone.

"Uh, Smith, do you know a 'MechaFaerie1337' at all?"

The subject title simply said _'turn on the news'_

Manako switched on the car's radio

"...-peating our top story. The Japanese Government has officially recognised the existence of non-human species, such as centaurs and harpies. The Interspecies Cultural Exchange Act was signed at 8:30AM this-..."

The car screeched to a halt. Smith's left eye was twitching, and a vein on her forehead was throbbing.

Manako opened the email

_Hi,_

_Sorry I hacked your phone, but it was important you found out the announcement was made earlier than planned._

_Meet me at the apartment after school has finished for the day. I know you have my address._

_-Hikari._

===/===

**Oborozuka middle-school**

"Miss O'Reilly," said Principal Yamada. "I appreciate you standing up for your friend, but it is blatantly obvious a Yuki-onna assaulted Mr Tokugawa."

"Sir," replied Astrid, "Sakura-chan was terrified. Are you aware of what would have happened if she used her powers while in that state?"

"I was told you beat the other two up, but Mr Tokugawa is frostbitten, and Miss Fuyu is our only Yuki-onna."

"No she's not, sir," replied Astrid, "Did you read my enrolment forms?"

Principal Yamada looked at the paperwork and sighed.

"I still have to contact your guardian, regardless, because of the other two boys."

===/===

"...I want that freak of an ice demon out of this school, now!..."

Erika could hear the ranting of an angry woman on the other side of Principal Yamada's door.

Sitting opposite her, an adult Yuki-onna was trying to comfort her young daughter, their tears freezing as both were crying.

"Mrs Fuyu, I'm Erika Kobayashi. I'm Astrid's sister-in-law," she said, extending her hand to introduce herself. The older woman backed away instinctively.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you."

"Not likely," replied Erika. "You're not the first Yuki-onna I've come into close contact with."

"They don't believe you," stated Astrid, "They don't even believe I'm a Yuki-onna."

"Astrid tried to convince the principal that she had frozen that boy's arms," Sakura said, between her sobs. "He was even ready to suspend her for it, but School Superintendent Tokugawa burst in, demanding my expulsion."

"She's been ranting for an hour," said Astrid. "One of us needs to intervene, and save Mr Yamada."

"I'll do that," said a new voice. Entering the reception area was a tall, dark-haired woman. She was wearing the 'standard government-issue' clothes, and sunglasses.

"Hello, Miss Smith,"said Astrid. "I'm not sure how she'll react to someone challenging her authority. Her son tried to take a hostage when I did it."

===/===

Half an hour later, the police were explaining to Mrs Tokugawa about how lucky her son was not to be arrested for harming a non-human, as the Cultural Exchange Act, which she had known about in advance, was signed less than 15 minutes after the morning's incident.

Smith was explaining the same thing to Astrid. She then turned to Erika and Mrs Fuyu.

"I need to talk to the both of you. I have already arranged for these two to have the rest of the day off. Officially, it's to process your Government Identification cards, so that you're protected under the new Act."

"If that's the case, Miss Smith," replied Erika. "There are at least two other students you'll need to collect. An elf and a wizard."

"Unfortunately, wizards aren't classified as non-humans. Witches are, but not wizards."

"That's stupid," commented Mrs Fuyu.

"I know it's stupid. It's government bureaucracy at its finest. As for the elf, I'll get the principal to page them. Principal Yamada, could you contact the elf's guardian?"

"That guardian would be me," said Erika.

===/===

**The O'Reilly apartment**

Smith was sitting on the sofa, a mug of coffee in her hand.

"Good coffee," she commented. "Even though it means lots of paperwork for me, we need to have full-disclosure of all of the extra-species in your household."

"That will be complicated," replied Erika. "Some of us don't come under the list you've given me."

Just then, the front door opened, with Doppel and Tionisha accompanying both sets of twins.

"While I appreciate being called out of classes early," said Hikari, as she walked inside. "You didn't need to announce to the whole school we weren't human."

She deactivated the holographic disguise from her armour, and popped open its front hatch.

"I didn't know you were a fairy," said Manako from over by the kitchen.

"What? Fairies can't use tech?" she replied. "Racist much?"

Manako looked suitably ashamed.

"Before this degenerates into a childish back-and-forth," said Kuroko. "Miss Smith called us here for a reason."

"Yeah, paperwork," groaned Astrid.

"I can reduce a chunk of that for you right away," said Hikari. "Although what I'm about to do could be seen as 'slightly questionable' if your superiors found out."

Smith's face brightened at the 'less paperwork' idea. "Show me."

"Follow me."

Hikari led Smith into the adjoining apartment, and walked up to the games cabinet. She closed its doors, and _pushed them inwards_. Smith saw an impossibly large room in front of her.

"I can use my secure server to reclassify Oborozuka as an established extra-species community, similar to Sparassus, and Okutama."

"What the fuck is this?!" exclaimed Smith.

"It's called a Type 50 TARDIS. I've been salvaging Timelord technology for a while," replied Hikari. "This was collecting dust in UNIT's London branch for ages. When I first found it, it looked like an old reel-to-reel computer cabinet. To be honest, this is like a museum piece, compared to some of our starships, but restoration projects are a good way to keep occupied."


	9. Chapter 9

(chapter 9)

**Tokyo, ICEP Director's Office**

"Director Nakahara will see you now, Agent Smith," said Miss Bell. Smith hesitated briefly, then entered the double-doors that were behind the Personal Assistant's desk.

"Miss Smith, please take a seat," said Mr Nakahara. "Who, and how much?"

"Excuse me, sir?"

"I know the ICEP servers were hacked this afternoon. They were highly skilled, too. No one would have found out, if I didn't happen to be accessing the file."

"So why are you asking me, sir?"

Nakahara pulled out some pages from a drawer. "This was the list of non-human population centres and their ICEP coordinators from last night. And _this_ is the list that I was going to print up this afternoon, for distribution to our field agents. This led me to check for further alterations. I already know _why_ you did it. You truly believe humans, demi-humans, and suchlike can truly live together. You were the only person, other than myself, to hire non-humans into your branch office too. Also, you were pretty vocal about some of the 'stupid' parts of the Interspecies Exchange Act."

"So what's going to happen to the girls and myself, sir?"

"It all depends. Tell me who did you hire to hack the computers, and how much did you pay them," the next part sounded more like an afterthought. "Also why Oborozuka? If there was a community of non-humans living there, our investigators would have already listed the town."

"Not if the population was keeping quiet about it," replied Smith. "Oborozuka is home to no less than seven non-blood-related dragons, for example. Miss O'Reilly only altered the list to save the department some embarrassment, and a lot of additional paperwork."

"Seven dragons? That is highly unlikely. Dragons are too territorial."

"Yet there has been minimal trouble. Three of them live together, with a human, as a family. I have basic information for six of the dragons. The family the seventh dragon lives in requires more attention, as there are some complications with our current forms. Here are my preliminary notes"

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE** Oboro/D01

**FAMILY NAME** (if applicable): Kobayashi

**GIVEN NAME** : Tohru

**SPECIES** : Royal Dragon

**AGE** : Unknown, equivalent to approx 16 years old

**HOMESTAY HOST** : Kobayashi, Mizuchi.

**COMMENTS** :

Works part-time at Maid Cafe Cozy. Approved for Independent Travel Pass.

Is in pre-established, same-sex relationship with Kobayashi, Mizuchi. (Amend files to acknowledge this once laws have been passed to recognise this legally.)

Co-guardian of Kobayashi, Kanna.

Intensely protective of both Ms Kobayashi and Kanna

**FILE REFERENCE** Oboro/D02

**FAMILY NAME** (if applicable): Kobayashi

**GIVEN NAME** : Kanna

**SPECIES** : Lightning Dragon

**AGE** : Unknown, equivalent to approx 10 years old

**HOMESTAY HOST** : Kobayashi, Mizuchi

**COMMENTS** :

Student at Oborozuka Elementary School

Adopted daughter of Kobayashi, Mizuchi and Kobayashi, Tohru

Intensely protective of both adoptive parents, and Saikawa, Riko (a local schoolgirl)

**FILE REFERENCE** Oboro/D03

**FAMILY NAME** (if applicable): not applicable

**GIVEN NAME** : Ilulu

**SPECIES** : Fire Dragon

**AGE** : Unknown, equivalent to approx 16 years

**HOMESTAY HOST** : Kobayashi, Mizuchi.

**COMMENTS** :

Works part-time at Oborozuka Candy. Approved for Independent Travel Pass.

Is in pre-established relationship with Aida, Taketo. (Amend files to acknowledge this once laws have been passed to recognise this legally.)

Intensely protective of Mr Aida, and Ms Kobayashi

**FILE REFERENCE** Oboro/D04

**FAMILY NAME** (if applicable): Ooyama

**GIVEN NAME** : Takeshi

**SPECIES** : Cursed Dragon

**AGE** : Unknown, equivalent to approx 35 years

**HOMESTAY HOST** : Takiya, Makoto.

**COMMENTS** :

Owns and runs Fafnir's Hoard games arcade. Approved for Independent Travel Pass.

Actual name is Fafnir, however uses Ooyama, Takeshi for payroll and taxation purposes.

Protective of Mr Takiya

**FILE REFERENCE** Oboro/D05

**FAMILY NAME** (if applicable): Jouhi

**GIVEN NAME** : Elma

**SPECIES** : Water Dragon

**AGE** : Unknown, equivalent to approx 19 years

**HOMESTAY HOST** : not applicable.

**COMMENTS** :

Works full-time at Jigokumeguri Ltd. as a junior systems engineer. Approved for Independent Travel Pass.

Protective of Mr Takiya and Ms Kobayashi

**FILE REFERENCE** Oboro/D06

**FAMILY NAME** (if applicable): not applicable

**GIVEN NAME** : Lucoa

**SPECIES** : Feathered Serpent

**AGE** : Unknown.

**HOMESTAY HOST** : not applicable.

**COMMENTS** :

Works as a volunteer at Oborozuka Retirement Community as a gardener, and part-time the local farm as a farmhand. Approved for Independent Travel Pass.

Possibly the deity Quetzalcoatl, will investigate further.

Lives at the Magatsuchi residence, apparently as the spell-familiar of Magatsuchi, Shouta (unlock relevant files if wizards become recognised as non-humans).

Gets "overly affectionate" with her master, bordering on inappropriate. Unsure if it's a side-effect of the spell-familiar ritual, or if it is a misguided attempt to deal with past abandonment-issues

===/===

"I see," said Nakahara, after perusing the notes. "So why is the seventh dragon not on the list?"

"That's where it gets complicated, sir. Her whole family are non-humans, but they are all _different_ to each other, and don't really fit in our recognised categories," explained Smith. "If a human and non-human have offspring, they are generally classified as whatever the non-human was. Harpy, Arachne, etc. If two non-humans have offspring, how do we classify them? If a Kobold and Nekomata have children, what is it?"

"Get to the point, Miss Smith."

"Our classification procedures are too vague. In young Mizuchi's case, the 'dragon' part came from a spontaneous mutation in her DNA. Neither of her biological parents were dragons. How strict are our genetic tests going to be? That could lead us down a dangerous road."

"Dammit, Kuroko. I love you like the daughter I never had," said Nakahara, "but now you're making my head hurt."

"Sorry Uncle Roshi," replied Smith. "That's why Miss O'Reilly offered to 'amend' some of the computer files. However, I do have two pieces of good news."

"What good news would that be?"

"You don't need to send Agent Anderson traipsing over North America to find that liminal rights advocate. He can just stick with negotiations between the Hidden Queen, and the Museum of Cryptozoology. Hikari O'Reilly is the eldest daughter of the person you wanted to talk with."

"Freya O'Reilly is here? In Japan? Right now?"

"Yes and no. She moved to Oborozuka a bit over a fortnight ago, but she's in the middle of a summit meeting, and won't be back for at least another week. The other piece of good news is that the O'Reilly family still have access to, and have maintained the files of, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce."

"What is that?"

"They used to do our job, plus deal with off-world relations. They were originally formed in response to the incident at the Munich Olympics, but expanded their charter when they were assisted by an off-worlder to foil an extra-dimensional entity's invasion plans. They were officially shut down in the late 1980s for political reasons, by people who didn't have the clearance level for the full-scope of the organisation. The only 'active' members are of off-worlder descent."

"Aliens? Really?"

===/===

**Dragons' Homeworld, outside the Red Lake City Gates**

"Wasn't I right? You couldn't see this park from orbit, and needed some regular aerial scouting," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit. She and Freya were sitting on a picnic blanket, watching, as a Nekomata and two Dragonewts were running around in the flowers, acting like little children. They were joined by two young Centaurs, not long after.

"You were right," replied Freya. "It's a good spot. Kids need to be able to run around without a care in the world."

"I agree with you there," said a deep voice from slightly above them. "Although, I find it strange that a human would be in charge of a pair of Dragonewts."

Freya and Kahl'ryleh-hophiit turned, to see a pair of adult Centaurs just behind them.

"A human? Where?" Kahl'ryleh-hophiit looked around, theatrically. "Freya, have you seen any humans nearby?"

Freya rolled her eyes. "I think they mean me." She then addressed the Centaur. "I'm assuming you're one of the representatives for the summit? Same would go for the Dryad and young vampire, hiding under the tree, behind you."

There were some quiet gasps from near the tree.

"My cousin and her wife are vampires,"said Freya. "I can sense when they're nearby. Let's move this blanket, so we can talk without risking someone becoming a pile of ash."


	10. Chapter 10

(chapter 10)

**Tokyo, ICEP Director's Office**

Director Nakahara looked at the files left by Smith. In addition to another dozen or so 'preliminary' notes, there was a USB stick with a post-it note attached. It simply said _'Uncle Roshi, I haven't opened this yet. I'm too nervous. I was told what to expect, but I need you to look first. -Kuroko"_

Nakahara read the other files first.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/TL001

**FAMILY NAME :** O'Reilly

**GIVEN NAME :** Freya

**SPECIES :** Timelord/(attribute unknown) Mage

**AGE :** see comments

**COMMENTS :**

Born 1940 in Vancouver, Canada. However, her family claims time distortions and a few other incidents puts her age somewhere closer to 120 years old. I'll have to take her word for it.

Worked as Scientific Advisor for the Canadian branch of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce from its founding, until its closure. Still maintains all of its files and records.

Currently on indefinite parental leave from the Galactic Defence Command. Rank is Artificer Captain, although, I don't think repairing starships is comparable to repairing trucks and tanks (although, she can do that too).

Family have alluded to the possibility she might have a Royalty status. Suspect she's keeping it quiet to avoid extra responsibilities

Is in same-sex relationship with Kobayashi, Erika (Amend files to acknowledge this once laws have been passed to recognise this legally.)

Biological parent of (including isekai offspring, where noted)

O'Reilly, Hikari

Kobayashi, Kuroko (I)

O'Reilly, Hiroshi

O'Reilly, Mizuchi

Kobayashi, Midori (I)

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/HA005

**FAMILY NAME :** Kobayashi

**GIVEN NAME :** Erika

**SPECIES :** Haunted Armour (variant, see notes)/(attribute unknown) Mage

**AGE :** 19+12

**COMMENTS :**

Japanese citizen. Was a victim of that international kidnapping scandal from 12 years ago.

Currently soul-bonded to a highly-modified transforming combat mecha, fitted with a remote projection unit. I'm not joking, Uncle Roshi. I was shown her physical body. She's straight out of a Saturday morning anime. The area her 'cockpit' would usually be is currently occupied by something Hikari built, called a ' Two-way Mana to Energy Conversion Reactor' meaning she can theoretically use magic, even though her body is robotic.

If we end up dealing with a Kaiju, at least we have someone we can call on.

In same-sex relationship with O'Reilly, Freya (Amend files to acknowledge, once laws have been passed to recognise this legally)

Her isekai-equivalent is the biological parent of

Kobayashi, Kuroko

Kobayashi, Midori

(Before you ask, there is a medical device, called a Gene-loom, that allows same-sex couples to have children. There at least two of these on Earth, right now)

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/TL002

**FAMILY NAME :** O'Reilly

**GIVEN NAME :** Astrid

**SPECIES :** Timelord/Yuki-onna/Ice Mage (variant, see notes)

**AGE :** 12

**COMMENTS :**

Born in an isekai-version of Ginza, that has been overrun by vampires. Was brought to 'our' Earth 9 years ago, by one of O'Reilly Freya's cousins. Is the younger 'sister' of O'Reilly, Freya.

Unlike other Yuki-onna, Astrid can fully suppress her cold-aura, and can handle 'regular' temperatures.

Has demonstrated that she can also use magic, and is equivalent to a wizard with frost affinities. However, she has also demonstrated that she can 'weaponise' her mage abilities while in 'Yuki-onna mode' and can achieve pinpoint, cryogenic-levels, of her affects.

In this morning's incident at Oborozuka middle-school, she could have snap-frozen that school bully, and nobody would have even noticed even a cold breeze.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/TL003

**FAMILY NAME :** O'Reilly

**GIVEN NAME :** Hikari

**SPECIES :** Timelord/Tinker Fairy (variant, see notes)/Dark Mage

**AGE :** 16

**COMMENTS :**

Is a 'Tinker' Fairy, only because we don't have a classification for 'starship engineer, with a minor in robotics'.

Can use magic to temporarily become a Sylph. However, she is reluctant to use it, as it makes Elves, Fairies, and other 'fey-folk' believe that she is the avatar of Titania the Fairy Queen. She prefers to 'blend-in' using a human-sized suit of exo-armour.

May only be 16, however, the circumstances of her birth overlaid the same knowledge and experience into her brain as her mother. Only has one biological parent, the rest of her DNA came from someone tampering with a Gene-loom, trying to make his own fairies.

Is also an Artificer Captain in the GDC. However, is on indefinite special leave, due to an incident causing her to be dragged through a space/time rift several years ago. I suspect her parents are keeping an eye on her psychological well-being, as one of the people that returned with her claimed she nearly beat a god to death. Without her armour.

She is also a highly-skilled Dark Mage, but "prefers to use proper, scientific means to achieve goals, as magic is cheating"

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/TL004

**FAMILY NAME :** Kobayashi

**GIVEN NAME :** Kuroko

**SPECIES :** Timelord/Arachne

**AGE :** 16

**COMMENTS :**

Born in an isekai version of Okinawa Airbase.

Has a rank of Cadet-Sergeant in the United Nations Self Defence Force (their version of UNIT)

Was named after her mothers' best friend, who also happened to be her godmother (Uncle Roshi, imagine me responsible and reliable enough to be anyone's godmother?)

Doesn't currently have the spider lower-half, due to a past incident. One arm, two legs, and several internal organs are all artificial replacements. Unsure what psychological issues may occur in the future, as she has no webs to trap 'prey' with.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/TL005

**FAMILY NAME :** O'Reilly

**GIVEN NAME :** Hiroshi

**SPECIES :** Timelord

**AGE :** 10

**COMMENTS :**

Student at Oborozuka Elementary School.

Apart from having a Timelord's binary cardiovascular system, and having something called 'integrated subspace comms' Hiroshi is almost exactly the same as a 'normal' human, if a little bit above average in strength and intelligence.

Additional note: his biological (human) father and paternal grandfather are not allowed any contact, without a legally approved chaperone.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/TL006

**FAMILY NAME :** O'Reilly

**GIVEN NAME :** Mizuchi

**SPECIES :** Timelord/Frost Dragon/Ice Mage

**AGE :** 10

**COMMENTS :**

Student at Oborozuka Elementary School.

A random mutation in her DNA is the only reason she's a Dragon. Apparently, all humans have random draconic genetic-fragments hidden in their junk-DNA, dating from when Earth's mana-field was forcibly collapsed several thousand years ago.

Additional note: her biological (human) father and paternal grandfather are not allowed any contact, without a legally approved chaperone.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/TL007

**FAMILY NAME :** Kobayashi

**GIVEN NAME :** Midori

**SPECIES :** Timelord/Arachne

**AGE :** 4

**COMMENTS :**

Apart from having a Timelord's binary cardiovascular system, and having something called 'integrated subspace comms' Midori is almost exactly the same as a 'normal' Arachne, if a little bit above average in strength and intelligence.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/EL003

**FAMILY NAME :** Paladin

**GIVEN NAME :** Galadriel

**SPECIES :** Elf (isekai variant)

**AGE :** 12

**HOMESTAY HOST :** Kobayashi, Erika

**COMMENTS :**

Comes from the same world as D001-D005. Circumstances of her arrival are classified.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE :** Oboro/PN005

**FAMILY NAME :** see comments

**GIVEN NAME :** see comments, 'Calliope' is as close as I can pronounce it

**SPECIES :** Psyren (isekai variant)/Dark Elf (isekai variant)

**AGE :** 16

**COMMENTS :**

Proper name is unable to be entered into the computer. Pronunciation of her name is impossible, without being fluent in Dark Elf 'black speech' (Which Hikari and Freya seem to have no trouble with)

Apart from her colouration, and pointed ears, she is no different to any of 'our' Psyrens.

===/===

**FILE REFERENCE** : LAX/O'Reilly001

The following is for ICEP eyes only: the biological father and paternal grandfather of Hiroshi and Mizuchi O'Reilly are not allowed contact without a legally approved chaperone, due to only wanting to associate with them for financial gain.

Freya was unceremoniously dumped, when Iwatani Takahashi thought she was just a mechanic's daughter, and only tried to contact the family when he found out his grandfather, Hiroshi Takahashi, had willed guardianship of his Fairy colony to her.

When challenged that she would just sell them for money, Hiroshi replied 'Why would she? Didn't you notice Hikari is a fairy? Besides, she inherited more money from her mother than the average human could use in a thousand lifetimes.'

===/===

"Now I know why she said it was complicated," Nakahara said to himself.

He then placed the USB stick into his computer.

The files were all video letters. Each file was addressed to members of ICEP, plus a few other people. He opened the one addressed to himself.

===/===

Kuroko appeared in-frame, wearing a beige and black combat uniform. One shoulder bore the insignia of the United Nations Self Defence Force, and she had the rank insignia of a one-star General.

"_Uncle Roshi, if you are watching this, then my counterpart hasn't worked up the courage to look at these first, and she trusts in your judgement as much as I did with my uncle..."_


	11. Chapter 11

(chapter 11)

**Oborozuka High School**

"Kobayashi-san! O'Reilly-san!"

**++WebWeaver101:** Not her again.

"What is it this time, Hirada-san?" asked Hikari.

"Why haven't either of you signed up for any club activities?" asked Hirada.

"I thought we'd give that 'go home club' some of the other students were talking about a try," said Kuroko.

"Shut it, you six-eyed freak," said Hirada. "Just because _you_ can sponge of the government, doesn't mean you can drag your sister down."

"Why can my sister sponge off the government, but not myself?" responded Hikari. "And why would either of us want to?"

"Because she's one of those 'liminal' freaks they were talking about on the news, and you're not," replied Hirada. "That's why you have different names, right? Your mother got knocked up by a freak, giving you a freak sister."

Hikari and Kuroko dropped to their knees, laughing. The holographic disguise around Hikari's exo-armour briefly flickering, as she impacted the ground.

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Dammit! I can't make coherent words. I'm laughing too hard.

**++WebWeaver101:** I can hear your laughter through your armour.

"You thought Tinkerbell over there was human?" said a random schoolgirl.

"Hey! Only I get to call my sister Tinkerbell," Kuroko said between giggles.

"Sorry," she replied. "Most of us in auto-shop have been calling her that. Hondo is the only guy that hasn't understood the reference."

"It's fine, it's fine," said Hikari, as she calmed down. "The auto-shop guys don't call me that out of malice. Hirada, obviously, _still_ hasn't read any of the information on the eight liminals in the school. This was one of three schools, chosen before the official announcement, to 'beta test' for any problems before properly going on a national scale. Hirada's aunt didn't read her information-pack either. All she saw was extra money lining her pockets. It wasn't until she saw liminals at the middle-school that she bothered to read what she signed for her school district's participation."

Hirada glared at the small audience that was starting to form.

"Out of the three of us that can't hide our non-human nature," continued Hikari, "I think she only picks on you, because we challenged her authority, she hasn't seen Miko-chan yet, and Ilulu being with Aida-san keeps that girl Hirada-san has a crush on from pursuing him."

Hirada briefly went red, before she got angry. "W-what are you talking about? I'm not gay."

"Sure, and there is no such thing as a fairy that can rebuild the engine of a '54 Chevrolet," said Hikari, sarcastically.

===/===

"Taketo-kun, Ilulu-chan, have you met Miko-chan?" asked Sannae, introducing them to a young Kobold girl. "Isn't she just adorable? We sit next to each other in class."

"Hi!" said Miko, excitedly. Her bubbly personality was immediately obvious. Her wagging tail brushed the older Saikawa sister's hand as she jumped around.

"BWEEEE!" came from Sannae as she passed out, pure bliss on her face.

"Oh no! Sannae-chan!" cried Miko, as she tried to catch her. The physical contact causing a line of drool to come from Sannae's mouth. If this was an anime or manga, hearts would be in her eyes.

….and a pixellated thought bubble would be above her head...

===/===

**Red lake City, outside the city gates**

Duke Freidric looked out of his coach's window, a look of disgust on his face. There were two centaur children, two dragonewts, and about half a dozen children playing some sort of ball-game in the field by the river. There were a group of commoners and non-humans watching from the shade of some nearby trees.

"Commoners and monsters interacting in broad daylight, and so close to the city. It's just not right. Why hasn't my brother put a stop to this? Haargen, go find my brother! Gerhalt, go inform Paladin-lord Clemene!"

"Yes, your grace," replied two voices from outside.

"As for you two," he addressed the two slaves currently servicing himself and the Duchess. "I feel like fondling nekomata breasts for a while. Switch places."

===/===

Freya was brushing Razorfang's hair, while watching the children playing in the field, the nekomata was purring happily in her lap.

"It looks like another of the Order-aligned nobles has arrived in town," one of the centaurs said, indicating a nearby coach, a rider and a runner breaking off from its entourage. "It looks like Duke Freidric." The purring stopped

"So, that moron's got a brother," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit. "Razorfang looks uncomfortable, for some reason."

"I used to be his, before he got bored with me," said Razorfang's quiet voice. "He probably doesn't even know his new plaything is his own daughter."

"It's more likely he doesn't care," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit. "My family are Dark Elf Lords. Some of my uncle's concubines were his own daughters for at least four generations. At least _my_ father liked to 'diversify' his harem." She flapped her wings, to add emphasis to her comment. "My mother and seven stepmothers are all different species."

"I don't understand," said the dryad. "Why would someone give into their base instincts so badly?"

"There's no one around willing to correct their behaviour," replied Freya. "I have family capable of cracking this world open like an egg, but we all know right from wrong. From what I've been told, many of the citizens of the Order-aligned nations have been indoctrinated to accept all authority as absolute."

"What are you doing with Freidric-family property?" said an arrogant voice from behind them. "Hand it over, immediately, commoner."

"Like I said," commented Freya, pointedly ignoring the voice. "Indoctrinated. The idiot on my eight believes anything his Duke tells him. He doesn't even check to see if the Duke's claims are accurate."

"Insolent commoner!" The agitation level in the voice increased.

"If he'd bothered to check," she continued, while still pretending to ignore the voice. "He would have found out that I am currently brushing the hair of property of the younger sister of a Crown Princess. If the Duke wishes to challenge this, I'm sure it can be rectified peacefully. The Crown Princess might only take both of the slaves in his carriage as compensation for the insult, or she might leave the Duke and Duchess with only their underwear, as they have their entire Duchy 'Eminent Domained' by her."

"Those are your Duke's choices," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit, addressing the man behind her. "Both slaves, alive and undamaged, or become a penniless commoner."

The Duke's messenger didn't move. Confusion showed on his face.

"Case in point," said Freya. "He cannot comprehend the idea of making a choice for himself. His making the 'right choice' by obeying his lord is actually a 'wrong choice' because his lord made an incorrect decision. Thinking of even the possibility of his lord being wrong is inconceivable to him, because only 'traitors' think that way. Kahl'ryleh-hophiit, would you like to inform the Duke he owes the Crown Princess compensation, or shall I?

===/===

**Tokyo, ICEP branch office**

"As you can see, these new uniforms for our security liaisons are not only practical, but they provide a visual impact. The public can clearly see we're out there, keeping them safe. Also, the girls look good in them, which is perfect for any media opportunities that may arise."

"Agent Smith, do you honestly intend to make these 'liminals' part of our law-enforcement?"

"Of course I do. I hope that humans and liminals become fully-integrated into society within the next three to five years.

"Any Japanese citizen, human or liminal, deserves the chance to do their part for society. What scientific advancements did we miss out on, due to a brilliant mind hiding away in a remote forest? What great artists were stuck painting on the inside of a cave wall? Right now, there is a fairy showing her fellow auto-shop students how to get an extra 100HP out of a '54 Chevrolet without additional after-market upgrades. She's showing them how to add a supercharger next week."

"What?"

"You heard me. The town of Oborozuka was chosen as the first of many to include non-human children as students at their schools. Before Miss O'Reilly showed up, even some of the liminals in my office thought that all fairies could do is grow flowers. What other assumptions have we made, based on ignorance and isolation? That is the main purpose of the Interspecies Cultural Exchange Program."

===/===

**Red Lake City, outside the city gates**

"What now, Freya?" asked Kahl'ryleh-hophiit, as Freya worked on disabling the slave-collars of a young nekomata and a young harpy. One was wearing Kahl'ryleh-hophiit's cloak, and the other was covered by the picnic blanket. The ground around Freya was rapidly growing flowers, and tree seedlings were already beginning to sprout.

"Why are so many rulers of low-tech worlds lolicons?" muttered Freya. "These girls would be barely in middle-school, in our world. At least he wasn't stupid enough to harm them, even if he did push them out of the coach."

_**CLACK!**_ The first collar sprung open, tears of joy forming on the harpy's face. "Now for the next one," said Freya. "The talks haven't even started, and I've made enemies of at least three people. Razorfang, could you stop hugging your little sister for a moment, so I can get to her collar"


	12. Chapter 12

(chapter 12)

**Red Lake City, Mayor's office**

"I demand satisfaction! I don't give two damns if that commoner or that ...ugh... beastgirl... are acting on behalf of the foreign representative," ranted Duke Freidric. "They threatened me in front of my retinue, and stole my slavegirls."

"With respect, your grace," replied Mayor Wainwright. "Didn't you have a squad of infantrymen, plus a mounted escort? You could have easily fended off two young women. Maybe you could file a stolen property report with the local City Watch."

"What's this I hear?" called a voice from just outside the office doors. "Are the Freidric family being 'picked on' again?" A woman walked into the office uninvited. "Just like you were in school, aren't you Johann? Picked another losing fight again? I saw my sister sulking in the foyer."

"Good afternoon, Duchess Von Strudelheim," greeted Mayor Wainwright. "What can I do for you today?"

"I was just speaking to your sister," she replied. "I wanted to requisition her tavern. When, to my surprise, I found out the foreign representative was already staying there. Did you know about this?"

"Yes, I already knew. I only found out yesterday that some of _Baron_ Freidric's men jumped my messenger, and stole the letter I sent you."

Duchess Von Strudelheim looked pointedly at Duke Freidric. "Still getting your brother to do your dirtywork, I see." She turned back to the Mayor. "Where is the foreign representative? I would like to speak with him before the talks."

"Unless the Duke here made _her_ change her plans, she should be at that picnic park near the river gate," replied the mayor.

"You're always so helpful, Hans," she replied. _If it wasn't for the scandal it would cause, I would have proposed to you the day I met you,_ she thought to herself. "By the way, Johann, I heard that your brother is being treated by the local doctor. Some young girl, dressed as a watchman broke his nose a few days ago."

She then blew a kiss to the mayor, and walked out of the office.

"The foreign representative is the guest of the Emperor of Demise," commented the mayor.

Duke Freidric looked confused.

"The Duchess is aligned to the Chaos faction," the mayor said in his 'talking to simpletons' voice. "She may be able to do something I, as a commoner, cannot."

After a few seconds, realisation dawned on the Duke's face.

_Why did the Harmony faction sent an idiot, like that, as one of their representatives?_

===/===

**Location Unknown**

A magic portal opens, inside a forest clearing, and a small girl steps out of it. She has red hair, and looks to be about 10 years old.

"WOO HOO!" she cheers. "I can make Space Bridges, like Hikari-oneesan!"

The girl looks around, as if searching for something.

**++MDD013-IRISH ROSE++ **Transponder verified. Good morning, Mizuchi. The local time is 12:45PM, and your mother is having a picnic 50.3km North West of your current position. Would you like me to teleport you there?

**++CryoDragonPrime : **Thanks for asking, but I'm fine. I wanted to test out some things.

**...correction... Dragons' Homeworld, 51km South West of Red Lake City**

===/===

They had been herding the young elf-girl for a while, and had tired her out near a small clearing. One of the forward scouts reported that there was another girl, picking flowers, also in the clearing. A dozen or so voices start whispering to each other, discussing the new plans, and some of the shadowy figures hidden inside the treeline break off, to surround both girls.

Mizuchi hears the voices. A few seconds later, eight goblins, mounted on wolves, slink out in front of her. The biggest one leered. "Yoo oor prizna lil girlies. We gon haf sum fun wiv yoo. Den eechuu." Evil laughter rang from all around her, and a quiet gasp came from inside a nearby log.

_Something isn't right,_ thought one of the goblins. _The elf is frozen in panic, and soiling herself, but the girl with the red hair ...and horns?... hasn't reacted, beyond putting her flowers down, and why are the wolves so twitchy?_

===/===

From inside the log, the cornered elf watches in terror.

The girl speaks some weird noises, then tilts her head. "So, they don't speak Uruk'hai."

_Why aren't you running?_ Thinks the elf.

Then the girl tries what the elf guesses is another different language. "Not that one, either."

_Don't talk to them! Just run!_

Then she hears a language she never thought she'd ever hear outside of magic lessons.

_How does she know the 'Black Speech' of the Dark Elves?_

"So one of them understands that," muttered the girl, as the group's Shaman begins to look panicky.

The girl ties another language, and the goblins just laugh.

_Did she just speak to them in Goblinese?_

A set of purple and blue wings unfurl from her back.

_A dragon? Here?_

The shaman frantically casts a fire-warding spell on the rest of his raiding party, a triumphant grin on his face.

_Is it getting colder?_

...quiet...

"You can come out now. The rest have run away."

The elf risked peeking out of her hiding-place. Half of the clearing looked like it was covered in snow. There are eight goblins completely encased in ice, in front of the girl. "Aww! They made me ruin Mama-Freya's flowers."

"Y-you've got an arrow stuck in you," said the elf.

"Yeah. It's poison-tipped, too," the girl said, as she pulled it out. "Mama-Erika will probably be upset. She bought me this dress, last week, for my tenth birthday."

"What happened here?"

Both girls turned towards the voice. An old man with glaring eyes looked down at them, his dark-red cloak billowing in the wind.

_The Emperor of Demise?_ thought the elf. _We're sooo dead._

The elf fainted.

===/===

Mizuchi flapped her wings, and faced the old man. "Some goblins didn't get the hint that I outnumbered them 87 to one."

The old man chuckled. "Such a confident hatchling you are."

"I'm not a hatchling. I turned ten last week."

"Ten centuries, you say? To cast ice magic that powerful, you must be quite talented."

"Centuries? I'm only ten _years_ old."

"Where are your parents? I'm going to have to have words with them about leaving a hatchling unattended."

"Well, Mama-Erika is still in Japan. So you can't talk to her. However, Mama-Freya is just up by that town." Mizuchi pointed towards Red Lake.

===/===

**Red Lake City, outside the gates**

**++MDD013-IRISH ROSE++ **Incoming. Multiple bogeys 40km South West, and closing.

**++EmeraldAngel: **Identify hostiles.

**++MDD013-IRISH ROSE++ **Goblin raiders. Sub-category: wolf-cavalry.

"Everyone!" Freya called out in a voice that would do a drill-sergeant proud. "Head back to the city gates. Wilhelm! Tell your brother to alert the guards."

"What's going on?" asked one of the centaurs.

"Goblin raiding party. They'll be here within the next 15 to 20 minutes. Kahl'ryleh-hophiit, are you fighting, or guarding the kids?"

"I'll guard the children," she replied. "Razorfang, pick up your sister. I'll carry the harpy. We'll have to name them before Stormcloud does."

"Speaking of Stormcloud," said Freya, before turning back towards the field. "Stormcloud! Deathbolt! Some goblins, riding puppies, want to steal your kitty!"

"That's just evil," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit. "Just be prepared to house train a bunch of direwolves, if this goes pear-shaped."

===/===

**The frozen clearing**

"You do know those goblins are going to take this out on the nearest town," said the old man.

"Then I'll have to stop them," replied Mizuchi. "I screwed up, so I need to fix it."

A portal opens behind and below Mizuchi, and she "falls" into it.

"She reminds me of Tohru," the old man said to himself. "I'm going to have to have words with Ambassador O'Reilly. She's keeping a few secrets."


	13. Chapter 13

(chapter 13)

**Red Lake City**

The river gates were blocked by people seeking shelter inside the walls. Watchmen and guards were heading for the rampart access-points.

"What is going on?!" Duchess Von Strudelheim tried to make herself heard over panicking citizenry, animals, and the ringing of alert-bells. Suddenly, a young girl dropped in front of her. A portal above her head flickered for a second, and an unconscious elf fell through, the girl effortlessly catching her.

"Damn! Damn! Damn! I screwed up," the girl said, as she placed the elf onto a nearby hay cart. "How was I supposed to know they'd run this way?"

"What are you talking about, little girl?" asked the Duchess.

Not really paying attention, the girl replied. "I spooked a bunch of goblins, and now they're headed for Red Lake. My mothers are going to ground me for sure."

_Mothers?_ thought the Duchess. "Why are you worried about what they will do? Isn't your father going to be stricter?"

"Ha! Funny," the girl replied. "He only found an 'interest' in his children when he found out Mama-Freya had money. Too bad for him she's already married to Mama-Erika. Now, if you'll excuse me," she said as she unfurled her wings. "I'm going to have to help deal with these Goblins."

_...is she a baby dragon?..._

**++EmeraldAngel: **You'll do no such thing. You'll be looking after the children Kahl'ryleh-hophiit is carrying.

**++CryoDragonPrime:** But Mum, I need to help fix this.

**++EmeraldAngel:** Don't 'but mum' me, young lady! Also send Kahl'ryleh-hophiit back once she drops the children off.

Just above the ramparts, the Duchess sees a flying beast-girl. She is carrying two young nekomatas, one in her arms, one in her feet, and has a young harpy on her back.

The girl flew up to her, and carefully extracted the passenger from her feet. They started talking in some foreign language, but the Duchess was guessing 'Miz-oo-she' was trying to convince 'Calliope' to let her fight the goblins, instead of guarding the children. "I'll watch them!" she said, as she reached the top of the stairs.

Both girls handed over the children, and flew back towards a red-haired woman and a pair of dragonewts.

===/===

**Outside the City Gates**

"Mizuchi," said Freya. "I distinctly told you to stay with the children."

"It's my fault the goblins are heading this way," she replied. "Besides, an adult said she'd watch them."

"When this is over, you and I are going to have a talk. Also, why aren't you in school?"

"Power plant caught fire. Everyone got sent home."

===/===

**Oborozuka, near the power plant**

"...Keep that fire from spreading to the outbuildings!..."

"...Did all of the employees evacuate?..."

"...When are the extra appliances from Asaka arriving?..."

The radio-chatter from multiple channels went across Smith's police scanner.

"You have three code nine alphas and one code nine charlie. Quadrant delta, second floor," said a familiar voice.

"Who is this? Keep this channel clear," replied one of the voices. "Stop playing around, kid. This channel is for emergency services only."

_Oh no,_ thought Smith, as she pulled over close to the police roadblocks. _What are you doing here, Hikari?_

"Of course it's for emergency services only," replied Hikari. "I have three code nine alphas here. Oh smeg! The stairs just collapsed. Get clear of delta wall."

Smith heard the sound similar to an oversized chainsaw engine powering up, over the radio. She looked towards the building. A section of external wall suddenly collapsed, in the shape of a doorway.

"Get a ladder here. If you can get everyone at least 20 metres away from me, I can convert all of this fire energy into mana, and change this charlie into an alpha. Let's go!"

"What did she just say?" asked one of the firefighters.

"You heard her," said Smith. "If you want four code nine alphas, instead of three alphas and a charlie, get moving."

===/===

**Red Lake City ramparts**

Duchess Von Strudelheim, the children and several guards watched anxiously, as the goblins came into view.

She could see the redhead making various hand signals. The female dragonewt and the baby dragon went one way, and the male dragonewt and winged beast-girl went the other.

Both dragonewts were carrying some sort of box-like apparatus that launched ...signal flares?...

**BOOOOM!**

...okay... _exploding_ signal flares.

The red-haired woman suddenly materialised a set of emerald-green, slightly crystalline, angel's wings. A strange noise was coming from her direction. It was a low, continuous, growl.

The Duchess pulled a miniature stargazer's tool from her satchel, and looked at the 'emerald angel' in the middle of the group. Her left hand was holding a strange-looking weapon. Beginning at the back, attached under her forearm, was a small version of the engines she had seen dwarves use to power their mine pumps. Her hand was holding some sort of mechanism that looked similar to a crossbow's trigger. The front was a circular blade. It looked like a small version of the blade at the water-powered sawmill near her home-town.

There was a high-pitched whistle.

_**...DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA...**_

"Dear gods!" exclaimed one of the nearby guards. "I thought the sawmill blade weapon was bad enough! Look at what's in her other hand!"

The Duchess looked at her other hand. There was a similar set-up again, an engine at the back, and a 'trigger' near the middle. However, the front had a set of rapidly spinning pipes, and there was a metal belt leading from just in front of the engine to a strange box on her back. Wherever this woman pointed her ...weapon?... dirt kicked up, and wolves and goblins either panicked, or died in a bloody mess.

"Princess Freya knows some truly frightening spells," whispered the younger of the two nekomata.

_**That's** the foreign representative?_ thought the Duchess._ If the Freidric brothers saw this, they'd be soiling themselves._

_...wait... **Princess**...did Mayor Wainwright deliberately keep that quiet?_

"Shh! Saffron," said the eldest of the group. "People aren't supposed to know about that."

===/===

**Oborozuka**

A news reporter was speaking towards a camera crew.

"_As you can see, firefighters from Oborozuka and Asaka have been working for over three hours to extinguish the fire at the Oborozuka Power Generation facility. Local volunteers have been providing aid, where possible. From providing water for exhausted crew, to some more unusual assistance."_

The camera pans towards a first-aid station, where two yuki-onnas are cooling down one firefighter, and a woman wearing one of the new beige and black ICEP uniforms is bandaging the arm of an injured firefighter.

The camera pans back. Behind the reporter, the cameraman focuses on the Fire Department's OIC, and the Police chief. They are talking to a young-looking red-haired girl, she is wearing some sort of armoured uniform, with the rank-insignia of an Artificer Captain on the upper arm.

===/===

"You can't be serious," said the police chief. "Someone sabotaged the power plant, using a Fire Elemental?"

"I was watching the footage from OIC Hiroto-san's camera feed," replied Hikari, raising her left arm, to show a holographic image. "Here is the summoning circle," she said, pointing to a set of glowing symbols, "and _here_ is the containment circle." Another set of symbols became highlighted.

"What makes this worse, is this reeks of distraction. While we're dealing with this, someone who saw these twelve men as expendible," more highlighted images appear, "is in the middle of something big."

"How big?" asked the police chief.

"It depends on what other secrets we're hiding in town. Smith knows about the dragons. ...and me..."

"Dragons. Plural," said the police chief. "I only knew about Tohru. What do I need to know about you?"

Hikari moved so the camera couldn't see her, and popped her front hatch.

"Oh! Another fairy," said Mr Hiroto.

"Smeg!" exclaimed Hikari. "That's what they're after! Oborozuka is hiding a fairy colony."

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Erika. Oborozuka has a fairy colony. The fire is a distraction.

**++VF-NXprototype-DREADWING:** On it!

===/===

**Ms Kobayashi's apartment**

"Sorry, Mizuchi-kun. I have to fly," said Erika. "Tohru-san, Kanna-chan, get whatever help you can muster. Someone is trying to kidnap the local fairies."


	14. Chapter 14

(chapter 14)

**Oborozuka, earlier in the day**

Hiroshi decided to explore the woods behind the retirement home. This would not only satisfy his growing curiosity about what was in the area, but it was also close to the community garden Aunt Lucoa usually takes Midori to.

The well-endowed blonde had taken a shine to all of them, but seemed particularly attached to Kuroko and Midori. Kuroko said it was probably because she sensed 'Nana Quetza' in their DNA. Apparently, in the timeline Kuroko and Midori came from, one of the differences was Nana Quetza rescued Grandma Val from her crashed frigate, instead of Grandpa Pat rescuing her from her wrecked racing skiff.

_Parallel timelines were a pain._

While he was wandering, lost in thought, Hiroshi nearly walked into some spider-webs. He dodged past them on reflex. (Midori liked to set snares with her webs, giggling like a little maniac, whenever someone tripped them.) It was then that he saw the girl. She was about his height, maybe a little taller, and had waist-length purple hair. Currently, she was watching something outside the treeline. Hiroshi looked towards where she was looking, and saw Midori picking strawberries. Aunt Lucoa was close by, facing away from them.

"I'm sure they'll let you join them, if you ask," said Hiroshi.

The girl gasped, and spun around, obviously startled. _Why didn't I hear him approach?_ she thought. _And why didn't any of my traps trigger?_

The boy was about her height, maybe a little shorter. He had green eyes, and short red hair. He looked surprised for a fraction of a second, before pointedly looking towards the top of her head. "Do you find my lower half so repulsive?" she accused.

"It's not that," he replied. "Most girls cover their, ...uh..." His hand indicated towards his chest, his face slightly going red.

She vaguely remembered her mother saying something about boys being interested in girls' chests, and quickly wove herself something to cover it. She also blushed slightly. "Why aren't you scared of me?" she asked.

"Why would I be?" he replied. "I'm not scared of my little sister, Midori, or my big sister, Kuroko. They're both arachnes. Midori is the little girl you were watching a moment ago. By the way, I'm Hiroshi."

"I'm Ventris," she replied. "Do you want to see something interesting?" She grabbed his hand, and pulled him in the direction of the middle of the woods. "Come with me! Just be quiet, so you don't spook them."

===/===

"We're here," whispered Ventris. They were at the edge of a clearing. Hiroshi carefully shifted aside a vine for a clearer look.

"A fairy colony," he whispered, slightly awestruck. "They must like you a lot."

"Why do you say that?" she asked.

"They didn't 'maze' you, too badly, for getting too close," he replied. "They're probably using your webs as an extra line of defence."

_She makes the cutest little pout,_ thought Hiroshi.

The fairies started looking agitated. "What's going on?" whispered Ventris. "They're acting strange."

"Keep watch for a moment," said Hiroshi. "I'm going to try something." He then sat down, cross-legged, looking for all the world like a Shaolin monk, meditating on 'achieving inner-peace' ...except for the UV-coloured runes Ventris's eyes were able to see.

**++UN003-MOONBASE++** User ID ShadowStalker013 recognised. Administrator access granted.

**++ShadowStalker013:** Access WeatherSatJPN042/RTvis.

**++UN003-MOONBASE++** Access granted.

After about three minutes, the runes vanished, and Hiroshi opened his eyes. "We've got trouble. Several men, armed with a mix of firearms, mage-staves and nets are closing in."

Hiroshi then pushed a button on the device on his arm. _"EP-RB ACTIVATED"_ appeared on its holographic display, before Hiroshi threw it into the clearing.

===/===

**Several hundred feet above Japan**

A black and purple aircraft changes course. The nacelles on its upper-frame glow, and the aircraft speeds towards a newly-received signal, rapidly breaking the sound barrier.

===/===

**Near the Fairy Colony**

"Let's move it," ordered a voice. "Each of these fairies is worth more than your lives combined. Our buyer is offering one million US each."

"We've also spotted arachne webs," said another voice. "Their silk is also valuable. Anyone who captures one alive gets an extra 50 thousand."

"Yarrgh!" a scream comes from the left of the group.

"That arachne bitch is close," called out a voice. "A web snared Tomo."

"Where's Iwato?" called a voice to the right.

"Fuck the bonus!" called the first voice. "We can't claim the fairies if we're dead." He opens fire with his subcarbine.

The roar of a low-flying fighter jet suddenly goes overhead

First voice's radio suddenly comes to life. Gunfire and panicked shouts can also be faintly heard from where the vans were parked.

"**HOOOLLLLYYYY SHIIIITTTT!"**

First voice looked back towards where they parked. A giant, black and purple robot could clearly be seen, towering above the treeline. Several smoke clouds marked where the vans used to be.

"Stand down, and drop your weapons!"

A small woman with light red hair, and a beige and black ICEP uniform, walked towards them.

Second voice opened fire with his AK47.

It has no effect, the bullets apparently going straight through her.

"She's an illusion!" called one of the mages. She proves him wrong, by breaking his nose with a punch that someone that size shouldn't be able to make.

Another mage fires a spell at her, to no effect.

"That's your final warning," said the woman. The robot's head turned to face them. Its head-mounted turrets pointing directly at voice one and voice two.

"You now have two options," said the woman. "Deal with ICEP, or deal with her."

A well-endowed woman with blonde hair comes into view. For those who know her well, she is uncharacteristically angry. There is a small arachne hiding behind her.

"You have entered an area protected by Quetzalcoatl, with intent to harm her friends," said the smaller woman. She then picks up the arachne. "Don't worry, Midori. Mummy's here."

several red dots appear on voice one's and voice two's foreheads.

"Make your choice."

===/===

**Oborozuka, Local police station, half an hour later**

"We need to get you registered with ICEP," said Captain Kuboto, talking to the young arachne.

"That's easy," she said, gripping Hiroshi's arm, making him blush. "I'm Ventris. I live with Honey, now." Hiroshi turned even redder.

"Place her under my guardianship, for now," said Erika.

She turned towards the young arachne. "Ventris, you're both too young for that sort of relationship."

"Say that to the girl hanging off the lightning dragon," she replied

"Point taken," replied Erika. "However, their parents have to regulate their behaviour."

She turned to face the captain again. "I have to talk to Director Nakahara in about thirty minutes. We have to discuss how we're dealing with the people I just arrested."

"Yes, we do need to discuss things," said an unfamiliar voice from behind her. "Impersonating an ICEP agent has severe penalties. Where's Smith? I was told she's in Oborozuka."

"She's assisting emergency services with the power plant fire," replied Erika. "As for the uniform, you can take that up with Director Nakahara."

"Captain, arrest this woman!" said the stranger. "I have no records of an 'Erika Kobayashi' as a field agent for ICEP."

"I'm sorry, sir," replied Kuboto. "Under the laws you refused to reword in the Interspecies Exchange Bill, if I lay a hand on her, I can be arrested for harming a liminal."

"That's my real body," said Erika, pointing to the fighter jet parked on top of the station's helipad, as it transformed back to robot-mode. "Do you have a set of handcuffs that fit? Oh! He passed out."

"How did he know it was you who made the arrest?" asked the captain.

"Good point," replied Erika. "You, Smith, and Nakahara are the only ones who know about the arrangement here."

The sound of a phone dialling comes from Erika. "Hello, Director Nakahara. It's Kobayashi. No, not the dragon one. Yeah, the off-world one. We've got a situation. Do you know who compiled the original list of non-human settlements? I think they may have been bought-off by traffickers."


	15. Chapter 15

(chapter 15)

**O'Reilly apartment**

Kuroko and Galadriel were preparing the ingredients for dinner, when they heard the front door open.

"I'm home," said Mizuchi, her usual cheerfulness missing from her voice.

Kuroko called towards her little sister in concern. "What's got you down, Mizuchi?"

"Her Mummy gave her a big lecture," said a strange girl's voice.

"It went for over an hour," said another girl's voice.

Kuroko and Galadriel moved out of the kitchen, to see a young nekomata and a young harpy standing behind Mizuchi.

"Who are these two?" asked Kuroko.

"Mama-Freya rescued them," replied Mizuchi. "They live here now."

"I think your mother's time living in that orphanage has made her susceptible to wanting to adopt kids without warning?" Galadriel commented.

"I think you're right," replied Kuroko. "However, that same instinct is probably why Hikari took you in, instead of spacing you. Anyway, let's get some more food out. We've got a lot of people to feed tonight. Galadriel, could you preheat the oven in the other kitchen?"

"On it," replied the elf.

"I'll help," said Mizuchi.

"...actually..." hesitated Galadriel. "You're going to have to move your things to your aunt's bedroom. With these two now living here, and …(mumble, mumble, mumble)... we're going to have to rearrange the bedrooms."

"What about using the rooms in Hikari's TARDIS?" asked Mizuchi.

"That's still being worked on," replied Kuroko. "Harmony still doesn't think it's safe to sleep in there until she's finished checking the dimensional integrity of her corridors."

"Also, What did Galadriel just mumble?"

Galadriel goes red.

"Your twin brother seems to be a natural ladies-man, just like both versions of our great grandfather," said Kuroko. "He's already picked up a girlfriend, and I think Galadriel wanted the position."

===/===

**Undisclosed special holding facility**

...light...

….and a fairy... no six fairies and a red-haired woman in black armour. She was leaning, lazily, on a door.

"Welcome back to consciousness, Mr Tokugawa," said a voice from behind him.

"Nakahara? What is the meaning of this outrage? I'll have your job for this."

"Doubtful," said the woman. "You knew Oborozuka should have been listed on the list of established non-human settlements."

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about," he stammered.

"We're already investigating who tipped you off about the fairies," said Nakahara

"N-no one tipped me off," he protested. "Y-you've got the wrong guy."

"The fact you had Agent Smith and the colony under observation says otherwise," replied Nakahara. "The fact you tried to go after Agent Kobayashi means that someone decided to throw you under the bus."

"How did that ...that... robot get on payroll without my knowledge? You're also hiding things," Tokugawa tried to sound confident. "Maybe we can come to an arrangement."

"Uncuff him," said the woman. Nakahara removed the handcuffs from the prisoner. "Seeing as you were trying to use your position as a cover to traffic people that you were supposed to protect, and I currently represent these fairies, how about this arrangement. Tell us everything, and spend your life in prison."

"That's not an arrangement," said Tokugawa.

"Good point. There's an exit behind you," replied the woman. "Director Nakahara, could you come over here, please?"

Tokugawa made a break for the door.

"(He's getting away, your Highness)" said one of the fairies (in their language).

"(Are you sure about that?) Director Nakahara, can you read Esperanto?"

"A little," he replied. "I stopped when the UN changed their mind about using it."

"Ever wonder why this building has so many automated doors?" Hikari pointed to a sign above the door behind her. It was some sort of led display, changing between several unknown languages. Nakahara's jaw dropped when the Esperanto-version of the sign appeared.

"(The sign says 'Welcome to United Nations Orbital Station _**Lethbridge-Stewart**_.') He won't get far."

"How? You took us through the back of the police station."

"(It's a heavily modified 'fairy door' spell.) I'm a fairy that knows Dark magic, _and_ a talented engineer. I linked a broom cupboard in their evidence lock up with one up here."

===/===

**Mayor Wainwright's house, Red Lake City**

Duchess Von Strudelheim was plastered.

...and all over the mayor...

"Hansh, Hansh, Hansh," she slurred. "Y-you dun, don'. You don' unnershtan. I-I shaw th-the anshel o-ob deff."

"Now, now," he said, trying to hold her up. "Miss O'Reilly is no such thing. She doesn't wear black, for starters."

"Sh-so!" she said, slightly offended. "She'sh a wuh, wom, a-a girl. Maybe black'sh not fash, fish, ...no' f'sh'n'bl'..."

"I think you need to go to bed."

"Goo' pl'n." she then started fumbling at his shirt. "wh' are th' butt'nsh on th'sh'rt?"

"I'm not wearing any buttons, and you're too drunk. You don't want to make a decision you'll regret in the morning.

"I'm no' ash think ash you drunk I am," she replied. "The onl' regr't I've ev' had was no' ashkin' tha' nishe Hansh Wai'rite onna date. D'you, d'you no he'sh ...a... a mayor now..." She passes out.

===/===

**Emperor's Flame Inn**

The glasses were stacked high, and several dwarves and humans were passed out at the table.

Kahl'ryleh-hophiit was leaning on the bar, nursing a mug of mead. She and Mrs. Cartwright were looking on, at the 'event' happening in front of them. Some of the onlookers were taking bets.

"That dwarf sure is stubborn."

"The centaur isn't giving up, either."

"Miss O'Reilly is keeping up with them."

"She shouldn't be encouraging them. She can't actually get drunk."

"Should we say something?"

"Hell, no! I've got 20 silver pieces riding on this."

"So do I."

Both girls burst out laughing.

===/===

**Elsewhere**

Clemene's eye twitches.

"You paid a goblin chieftain to attack picnic-goers at Red Lake's river gate park, and they were wiped out by five people?"

"We don't believe it either, so we're tortu- _ahem_ further investigating the survivors stories. One of them did mention a 'Frost Dragon' was involved."

"A what?"

"That was our reaction as well. Only yuki-onna have the abilities the priso- _witness_ described."

"It could be possible," said one of the serving girls.

"Don't correct your betters, wench."

"Wait!" said Clemene. "Hear her out. What did you mean by 'it could be possible' girl?"

"L-lord Cl-clemene, s-sir. If the K-kamui f-family can use l-lightning, and L-lady Elma can use water magic, wouldn't it be possible for a dragon to use frost magic?" She cringed, expecting punishment at any second.

"Good girl," Clemene said, patting her head. "Your job is to be helpful, and that was being helpful. However, you did speak without asking permission. Rohan, remove her tongue, and then remove two of your fingers from your left hand, for needing a simple peasant to point out your oversight."

The other serving girls whimpered, as Rohan dragged the screaming girl away.

"Anything else to report?"

"Y-yes, sir," said one of Clemene's spy-masters. "Our spy in Red Lake is in the dungeon, and absolutely terrified. He claims the peasant girl you sent that _child_ to kill has become the vessel of Death herself."

"He's gone mad," scoffed Clemene. "Death. Ha!"

"We had one of our seers mindra- _extract_ his memories."

"And?"

"She died of terror. Her last words were 'Angelis Vert' before her hair went white, and she died."

"Meh. Circumstantial evidence. Until I get a message from God himself, I'm still going to disrupt those talks.


	16. Chapter 16

(chapter 16)

**Oborozuka Police Station**

Smith watched as Hikari and Director Nakahara carried the unconscious councilman to the back of the police station. She didn't know what they were up to, and she didn't ask. She guessed it had something to do with the fire, the fairies, or both.

"How long do you plan on wearing that uniform, Erika?" she asked.

"I thought it looked good," Erika replied, as her holographic image changed back to 'regular' clothes.

"Magic!" exclaimed Ventris.

"Only to those who don't understand what they're seeing," said Hiroshi. "Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Mama-Erika's Remote Projection Unit comes pretty close."

"I don't understand," she replied.

"Remember that giant robot?"

"Yeah. That was pretty cool. Those criminals were pissing themselves."

"That robot is Mama-Erika's current body. This is what she used to look like, back when she was still human. There's a tiny little drone inside, fitted with all sorts of technology."

"She might not know what a drone is," said Smith.

"They're those flying toys I've seen people play with in the park," replied Ventris. "I may have spent the last eight years hiding in a forest by myself, but I still watch my surroundings. Honey is the only person to ever be more stealthy than I am."

"Speaking of 'Honey,'" said Smith. "If she's hanging off him, You're going to have to enrol her in school."

"The apartments are going to get a bit cramped for a while," replied Erika. "It shouldn't be a problem, once Harmony finishes doing her safety checks."

"Who's Harmony?"

"Let me guess. Hikari didn't introduce her. I know she showed you the TARDIS 'restoration project' she's been working on. She's installed one of these RPUs into its main console. The resultant personality that has emerged has called herself 'Harmony'"

"I'll have to get details for ICEP's records."

"That's easy," replied Hiroshi. "I've seen her a few times. She looks just like what Kuroko-oneesan would have looked like, if her injuries hadn't happened, except she's blonde and has blue eyes. You'd have to leave most of your file blank, as she's not in any of your category types."

===/===

**Outside the police station**

Astrid is leaning on the ICEP van, talking to a young teenager, she is of a similar height and build, with tan skin and reddish-orange hair. The only thing marking her as not being human is her glowing, orange eyes.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"Fiora, it wasn't your fault," replied Astrid. "They drugged you, and fitted you with those shock restraints. Fire Chief Hiroto has offered to take you into his care. You'll be helping him and Lucoa to protect the local fairy colony."

"Why aren't you afraid of me?"

"If I was human, I might be a bit twitchy around you. It's not every day you see an Ifriit, let alone get this close. I'm just glad Agent Smith has found somewhere close by for you to live. You're pretty, and I like you." Both girls blushed.

"But I'm dangerous to be around. If I get angry, I could burn you to ashes."

"I'm probably more of a threat to you," replied Astrid, creating a ball of ice in her hand.

"You're a Yuki-onna?!" Fiora exclaimed in surprise. Less than five second later, Astrid kisses her on the lips, surprising her even further.

===/===

**Oborozuka shopping district, not long after**

Erika looks over at the electronics store. The display televisions in the window are showing news footage, from earlier in the afternoon, of several industrial generators being airlifted by sky-cranes. The text-banners at the bottom of the screen reading _'Atrax Engineering, Research and Development supply Oborozuka with aid, as a gesture of goodwill to the Japanese Government.'_ and several other stories on similar lines.

The involvement of non-humans, except for the footage of them assisting emergency services, has been quietly suppressed.

Ventris is happily clinging to Hiroshi's arm. Astrid is doing the same to Fiora. Both objects of affection are blushing madly.

"Ventris-chan, I know you can weave your own silk," said Midori, from her perch on Erika's back. "But going clothes-shopping is fun."

"How is it supposed to be fun?"

"It gives you ideas for patterns. Kuroko-oneesan used to make some complex patterns with her weaving." Her face saddened. "She's not going to be able to do that any more, since she can no longer make silk."

"Changing the subject," said Erika. "Kuroko-chan and Galadriel-chan are making dinner tonight. Let's go find something good for dessert!"

===/===

**Dragons' Homeworld, Red Lake City Council Chambers**

The Emperor of Demise stood near his chair, looking down at Freya. Stomcloud and Deathbolt were in another part of the great hall, either hugging, or getting hugged by, their respective 'cuddle buddies.'

"Miss O'Reilly, before the various guests arrive, you have some explaining to do. For starters, how did you come by that _extremely rare_ Frost Dragon Hatchling? It's parents would never relinquish her without a fight. Did you eliminate them as ruthlessly as those two thousand wolf-riders?"

"Firstly. She's my daughter. I gave birth to her. Secondly, there is no way I would ever willingly give her up. Thirdly, _**never**_ let her father know how rare she is. He is a money-grubbing bastard who would sell his own mother."

"Next. What exactly are you? I saw the wings."

"Even I can't answer that. My mother died due to complications during childbirth. My father was interred in a Nazi POW camp at the time, so he didn't find out about it until after the war. When I was three, my magical abilities manifested. The nuns tried to 'beat the devil out of me.' They shipped me off to an orphanage in Ireland. I suppressed my abilities out of fear of further reprisals, especially after one of the other girls died from one of their beatings. When I was thirteen, one of the nuns decided to beat me 'just because' and my magic exploded. It turned out she was a Mind-Flayer, and she sensed I was a threat. The nearby town still talks about how 'The Emerald Angel' destroyed the 'false priest and his demon nuns' . It was a further two years before my father finally managed to track me down."

"Everyone who saw you yesterday thinks you're the Angel of Death."

"Pass me that gavel." It starts sprouting leaves on contact. "Let them believe what they want."

"When the talks begin, you're going to need to get everyone's attention. They won't listen to 'a mere peasant girl' no matter how eloquently she speaks."

===/===

The great hall is full of people, human and otherwise. The Emperor of Demise is on the main podium. Front row, centre. Duchess Von Strudelheim is sitting on his left, with Mayor Wainwright beside her. On his right is a six-foot tall red-haired woman. She is wearing strange-looking armour, and has emerald-green, almost crystalline, wings.

Amongst the various representatives at the lower tables, two of the Harmony Faction representatives are looking distinctly unwell. One has bandages on his face, from a recently-broken nose. Hidden amongst the onlookers, a disguised Paladin is seriously reconsidering his assassination mission.

"Delegates, representatives, and other witnesses," The Emperor of Demise addressed the hall. "On my right is Artificer Captain Freya O'Reilly, the representative of another world. Some of you have encountered her in around town over the past few days, and she has something important to tell all of you."

===/===

**Orbital Station **_**Lethbridge-Stewart**_

Hikari (out of her armour), Nakahara and six fairies are watching a monitor, showing Tokugawa running through the corridors. They are eating popcorn.

"(What is he trying to do now?)" asked one of the fairies

"(He's trying to stack those crates, to see if he can escape through that window, above those cargo containers.)" replied Hikari.

"But we're on a space station," commented Nakahara.

"Aunt Kuroko was right," replied Hikari. "You're almost supernaturally fast at understanding languages."

"(He's nearly at the window.)"

"Quick! Uncle Roshi, here's the PA system's microphone."

Nakahara pushed the button.

"Councilman Tokugawa. The offer is still on the table."

Hikari's voice then came over the PA

"If you seriously don't want to take Director Nakahara's offer of life in prison, I'll give you the access codes for the loading-dock doors. We're only a few kilometres away from London. Just a quick trip out of the door, and you're there."

"(Quit playing with him. Are you sure you're not part Dark Elf?)"

Tokugawa raises his hands, and signals his surrender.

"I'll tell you everything," he says to Nakahara, as Hikari (back in her armour) reattaches his handcuffs. "My buyers, my contacts. Everything. Just tell me, how you got resources like _this_ without my finding out."

"Kobolds aren't the only race with money," replied Hikari.


	17. Chapter 17

(chapter 17)

**Oborozuka, the O'Reilly apartment**

"_It has been several days since the fire at the Oborozuka Power Plant, and repairs are already under way."_

The television shows construction crews bearing uniforms from various companies, plus those of the JSDF Engineering Corps, removing debris from the burnt-out buildings. The camera pans over to the 'typical' image of construction foremen and government officials at a table, holding papers and gesturing to different parts of the buildings.

The door opens, and Freya's voice rings out "I'm back! Damn, some of those royals can be stubborn. Anyone would think I was trying to give the dragons free-reign over their little dominions."

"Mama!" called a voice, before a small arachne suddenly latched onto her leg. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Midori-chan. Did you get up to anything interesting while I was away?"

"I helped Aunt Lucoa in the big garden. And I got to eat strawberries until I was nearly sick. And then I saw a buncha fairies."

"Fairies, really? What were they like?"

"They were all tinkly and sparkly. They wore clothes made out of flowers."

"That's nice," replied Freya. "Who's Aunt Lucoa?"

"She's Grandma Quetza's sister. Just like how you and my old mummy are sisters."

"Lucoa is one of the local dragons," said Erika. "A few things have happened while you were gone."

"Anything Important I need to know?" she asked.

"Quite a few things, actually," said a voice from behind her.

"Good morning Miss Smith," said Midori. "This is my other mama."

Freya turned to face the ICEP coordinator.

Smith looked at the woman in front of her. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. It was hard to believe she was as old as her daughters said she was.

"You look familiar," said Freya. "Ahh... You have your Grandmother's eyes. Are you Hiroto-kun's or Shizuka-kun's daughter?"

Smith was mildly surprised. "How do you know my family?"

"Ask your Grandmother about 'the Canadian mechanic' next time you see her," she replied. "Just don't ask her while Hiroto is around."

"Ooh!" replied Smith. "Did something happen between you and my father?"

"What brings you back this way?" asked Erika, changing the subject.

"As your ICEP coordinator, I still have to check up on you. I'm also supposed to check up on Astrid, since she's still suspended for that fight."

"She's helping her girlfriend rebuild the barriers around the fairy colony," replied Erika.

"I don't know," said Freya. "I go away for a few days, and I find out my little sister picks up girls faster than I do."

"Not as fast as your son," said Harmony, as she walked in from the adjacent apartment. "Ten years old, and he already has two girlfriends hanging off him."

"Just the person I came to talk to," said Smith.

"Who is this?" asked Freya.

"Remember that TARDIS Hikari found?" said Erika. "She upgraded it. There were ...complications.""

"Hi," Harmony introduced herself to both Smith and Freya. "I'm Harmony, Hikari's wife."

===/===

**A few hours later**

"I'm home!" said Hikari and Kuroko, shortly before Hikari's armour is snatched up, and embraced by Harmony.

"Harmony!" protested Hikari. "There are children present."

"They're too occupied playing games." Noises could be heard from both apartments, with both consoles in use.

"This place is way too crowded for this many people, even with you spread between both apartments," said Smith.

"About that," said Kuroko. "Hikari and I found an unoccupied property close to the fairy colony. We just have to find a workaround to get past restrictions on under-aged foreigners buying property in Japan."

"It's an old mansion," continued Hikari. "Once we acquire it we can get Argent and Azul off the ship, and also act as accommodation, temporary or otherwise, for other liminals."

"Who are 'Argent' and 'Azul'?" asked Erika, Freya, and Smith simultaneously.

"Do you want to field this one, Harmony?" asked Hikari.

"We've recovered more of the corrupted data-logs from Val Sturmdrachen's ship," said Harmony. "Those are the real names of Stormcloud and Deathbolt. When the security system on your mother's ship activated, it was too damaged for the SHIP programs to activate, so it used the on-board fabrication facilities to create 'crew' to repair the systems, and provide emergency medical aid, using DNA samples it scanned from an 'intruder' and its captain. Because its subroutines were malfunctioning, it 'grafted' the emergency medical subroutines into one body, and the emergency engineering subroutines into the other. Unfortunately, the reactors lost power during the process, and the emergency back-up generators 'decided' to pause the fabrication. When Freya and Erika found the wrecked ship, they accidentally repowered the fabrication systems."

"If the medical and engineering programs were overlayed into their neural networks, why weren't they like Hikari?" asked Freya.

"Simple," said Harmony. Because the procedure was interrupted, their brains can be thought of as one of those computers that come with preloaded software on a separate partition, but you don't have the access key. Hikari is similar, but your being present when the gene-loom made her activated her partition."

"Anyway," said Kuroko. "If we can get this property, one of the uses we can put it towards is as an emergency shelter for any humans or liminals that require it, seeing as Director Nakahara has agreed to keeping Oborozuka as a designated liminal population centre. Plus he doesn't feel like the world is ready to know about off-world life so soon after announcing Earth has its own secret population."

"Speaking of secrets,"Hikari said, facing Erika. "Now that mother is back, you two have a trip to Okinawa to plan."

"How much paperwork do I have to fill in?" asked Smith.

"It depends on what Uncle Roshi is willing to do for you, Aunt Kuroko," said Kuroko. "Mother and Mum have to go visit Grandma and Grandpa face to face, in Naha. We're staying here, as transporting over twelve liminals would be a logistical nightmare right now. The only 'major' requirement is clearing a space for two planes at the local airbase."

"Good point," said Smith. "I do know the ICEP coordinator down there needs a kick in the pants. He can do that end's part of the job." She pulls out her phone.

===/===

**Naha Airbase, a few days later**

The gate guards at the JASDF military base section of the airfield were warily eyeing the black van parked nearby. In front of it, the base's Duty Officer was talking to two people, claiming to be ICEP agents. One was a human. The other was a kobold. If they really were agents, they would have to be rookies. Both looked like they were fresh out of high school.

"Coordinator Jones contacted you guys a few days ago," said the young woman. "We were told to come here to collect two liminals and escort them, for a family visit.

"I'm sorry," said the duty officer, "but you're probably supposed to be meeting them at the commercial terminal, further up the road."

Just then the alert sirens sounded throughout the base.

===/===

**a few seconds earlier**

It was Corporal Ichiro's turn monitoring RADAR traffic from the secondary control tower attached to Naha's shared airport/airbase. Everything was routine, until two unknown blips appeared at the airport's outer marker.

"Unidentified aircraft. Unidentified aircraft. You are entering controlled airspace. You have five seconds to activate your transponders, or we will consider you hostile." As per procedure, he then pushed the button, to put the base on alert.

Within a few seconds, the base's commanding officer, who happened to be talking on the phone to his counterpart at the civilian tower, came running over. "What have you got, Corporal?"

"Colonel Smith, sir, we've got two unidentifieds at the outer marker. Correction," he replied, as transponder-codes appeared on the blips. "two unknowns."

"Let's see who this 'DREADWING' and 'EmeraldAngel' are," said the Colonel, as he picked up the radio's hand-piece. "Unknown aircraft. Unknown aircraft. Using false transponder codes is a criminal act. You have ten seconds to show your correct codes, or we will scramble fighters."

"Hiroto-kun, are you still mad about what happened in '68?" said a vaguely familiar voice.

"You still haven't told me about that," said an unknown voice.

"Maybe you could tell me about it, Dad," said a very familiar voice.

"Cancel the alert," said the Colonel. "I don't know why, but my daughter Kuroko is on one of those aircraft."

===/===

**Officer's mess, shortly afterwards**

Colonel Hiroto Smith greeted his daughter. "Good morning Kuroko-chan. I see you've already found the coffee urn."

"Good morning Father," she replied. "Allow me to introduce two of the liminals I work with. This is Erika Kobayashi, and I believe you've already met Freya O'Reilly."

Col. Smith spat out his coffee. "Oh my god," he spluttered."I was fifteen when I last saw you. Why do you still look 25?"

"Like I said," commented Smith. "Liminals. You don't have clearance for what Erika is, but I was told you've seen Freya's wings before. They have family here, and Uncle Roshi let me accompany them, so I could visit you, while still technically being on duty."

"Always finding ways to bend the rules, I see," he replied. "So are you going to clue me in as to how and why I have two big-ass fighter jets turn up on my tarmac without warning."

"Jones must have contacted the wrong people," replied Smith.

Two ICEP agents walked in, accompanied by the Duty Officer. "Sorry we're late. Coordinator Jones called the airport instead of the airbase. There are currently some annoyed local officials, who were hoping for photo opportunities, en route."

"How annoyed will they be, when they find out we can both look like 'regular' humans?" commented Erika.


	18. Chapter 18

(chapter 18)

**Naha Airbase**

"Who tipped them off that we'd be meeting some people directly connected to the Director of ICEP?" said Colonel Smith.

A group of two dozen or so protesters had formed around the ICEP van, just outside the main gate.

"It would have to be someone within the local branch itself," replied Freya. "According to camera footage I, uh _acquired_.-"

"You mean how you used your 'subspace interlink' thing, to hack the traffic cameras," interrupted Agent Smith.

"Yeah, that thing _you're_ not supposed to know about," replied Freya. "These guys were waiting for over an hour at the exit to the commercial airport. They packed up, and headed for here, within a few minutes of you giving Agent Jones a piece of your mind about his screw up."

"If we head out those gates," said Agent Smith. "Young Kubo, here, is going to be in danger. He's the only obvious liminal here. Freya can hide her wings, and Erika's remote projector means they'll have no idea she's actually still in that hangar over there."

"What?" said Colonel Smith. "My MPs didn't spot anyone else near those planes."

"Of course not," replied Erika. "Freya and your daughter were the only people who actually exited an aircraft. The white one with the green trim, to be precise. I shouldn't be telling you this, but I'm the black and purple one."

"Yes, I saw you near that one," said Colonel Smith, not quite understanding.

Erika's image flickered for a moment.

"OH!" exclaimed the Kobold that was with them. "That's why I couldn't smell you. You're a hologram, like on that 'Red Dwarf' show my sister Miko watches."

Realisation dawned on the face of his partner. "Oh Em Gee!" she said. "I thought those planes looked familiar. My otaku older brother has posters of them on his bedroom wall. They're from Macross something-or-rather. Do they both transform, or just the black one? I have an idea."

===/===

**ICEP branch office, Okinawa**

Agent Jones was pissed. First, that girl from Tokyo, who only got her coordinator job because her uncle was the Director of ICEP, had the gall to tell him off for not doing his job properly. Now he had this blow-hard PR guy complaining.

"We waited for nearly two hours at that airport, only to hear rumours that they had actually disembarked at the military base. We wanted to get footage of who you said was a local liminal being greeted at the airport by a couple of local council members, before she went to visit her family. Right now, all our camera crews have is footage of protesters trashing an ICEP van."

The office phone rang again.

"Coordinator Jones's office," said his secretary. "Hey, Yuna! What's shaking? What? You're shitting me! That's gotta be fake."

The secretary opened up her Twitter account, and clicked on the link her friend sent. "Mr Jones?"

"Yes Miss Mara?"

"You said Miss Smith was bringing a non-human to Maha Airport for a family visit, right?"

"Get to the point," he grumpily replied.

"Is she bringing Gojira down from Tokyo? Because I have a video of two giant robots, walking out of a hangar, at Maha Airbase."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Jones and the PR guy simultaneously.

===/===

**Maha Airbase**

While the protesters were distracted, Smith and the rest of the group left in a transport truck, via a service gate. "It's a good thing you can control your mecha remotely," said Smith. "We'll stop at the police station, and arrange a hire car."

"So, are you an AI?" the young rookie asked Erika. "Whoever built you must be a genius."

"A mad-scientist, maybe," said Erika. "I'm technically Haunted Armour."

"I thought that only happened with ancient suits of armour."

"Apparently, any type of fully-enclosed armour will do."

"And a mecha is technically armour, right?"

"That's right."

"Is it your family or hers we're visiting?"

"Mine."

"Do they know?"

"About being a liminal, or being in a relationship with a woman? No for the former. Yes for the latter. The trip to Okinawa is to introduce Freya to my parents."

"How shocked do you think they'll be?"

"We won't know, until we see them."

===/===

**Oborozuka**

Hiroshi was feeling self-conscious. Ventris and Galadriel were taking full advantage of him looking human, and had dragged him clothes shopping. If this was one of those manga or anime from his sisters' collections, they would be fighting each other for his exclusive attention. Instead, they had both decided to 'share' him. However, it wasn't their attention that was embarrassing him. It was all of the adults making comments, such as "Oh, look how cute they are!" and "D'aww! He's practising for when he's older and gets a girlfriend"

Some girls he recognised from his class giggled, as Ventris asked his opinion about a dress she found, and Galadriel grabbed a matching one.

"Disgusting insect," said a voice Galadriel recognised from school. "Can't you find a boy bug to fawn over?"

Ventris hid nervously behind Hiroshi. She recognised that voice. It was generally followed by rocks and sticks being thrown at her from him and his two friends.

"Heyyy! It's the popsicle," said Galadriel. "Are your boyfriends jealous that our boyfriend is a better kisser, or something?"

Several seconds pass, as he tries to find a comeback that doesn't sound either lame, or make him sound gay. "Shaddup! He can't even find a human girl."

"Given how bad you smell," said Hiroshi, "You're looking to find yourself a goblin. I thought toshing stopped being a job last century. Or is it just a hobby for you three?"

Galadriel stifled a laugh. "What's so funny?" asked Ventris, confused.

"It's something I've seen orphan kids do," said Galadriel. "They dig around near the stormwater and sewerage outflows, searching for stuff that was lost down sinks and gutters."

"F%ck You! My family has money and influence! What have you got? Two lesbian parents, and a tiny apartment."

"You take that back," Hiroshi calmly replied. "Mama-Freya is bi, thank you very much."

"What's going on here?" said a stern voice. "Little foreigner thinks he can mouth-off to Aniki's son does he?" Three adults come into view. Two of them look like 'shaved gorilla' and 'baldy' only scaled-up in size.

"What beanstalk did you fall from?" said Hiroshi. "By the way, it's dangerous to use Yakuza terminology around this area. Didn't you hear what happened to the Dragonbusters?"

"Those mooks? I heard their leader was beaten up by a sixteen year old blonde, in a maid's costume. We're going to move in, now they're out. So you'd better start showing some respect," one of them said, before drawing a pistol from his jacket.

"I would seriously reconsider _that_ attitude in Oborozuka," said a voice from nearby.

"Hello, Miss Kuroko," said Galadriel. "Is young Midori with miss Lucoa again?"

"Why, yes she is," replied Kuroko. "Apparently, she really gets on well with Shouta."

The three adults seem confused as to why the group hasn't flinched at the sight of the pistol, so the other two draw theirs for 'emphasis' in the matter.

"They still haven't noticed," commented Galadriel, brushing her hand over her shirt, as if to remove a bug from it. Young baldy was quicker on the uptake and looked at his older counterpart's chest. There were two faint green lines, roughly two centimetres apart, leading from his chest to something on the side of Kuroko's head, that to a casual observer looked like a mobile phone accessory.

"My big sister does like to paint," commented Hiroshi.

Ventris, still hiding behind Hiroshi, timidly asked "Didn't your older sisters say they were going to the firing range today?"

Young baldy's face went pale. "D-dad," he croaked. "I think we should leave."

"What did I tell you about backing down?" he growled.

The boy flinched for a moment, before replying. "Never back down when you have the upper-hand. But Dad, _they've_ got the upper-hand. She's _painting_ you."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" said gorilla's counterpart. "I don't see any paint."

Delinquent and 'small gorilla' suddenly go pale, as they remember the terminology from their online gaming sessions. "We _really_ need to back down, Aniki," said Delinquent. "He has two older sisters, who _were going to the firing range_. Where's the other one?"

"Let's get her to come out," said the new candidate for Village Idiot, as he pointed his pistol towards Hiroshi, and cocked its hammer.

Kuroko turned her head towards him. _**CRACK**_. The pistol, and his hand, vanished in a flash of blue energy.

"Look at the bright side," said Kuroko, as the rest of the group scattered. "The wound is already cauterised, so you won't bleed out." She then whispered in his ear. "Stay out of Oborozuka, or we'll let one of the dragons deal with you instead. You have seven to choose from."


	19. Chapter 19

(chapter 19)

**Maha, Okinawa**

_Ding, Dong!_

"Could somebody get that?" said Maria. "I'm still hanging out the laundry."

"I'll get it," said a girl's voice from one of the bedrooms.

"Thanks Lucy-chan," replied Maria.

A young woman exited the bedroom. She was around five foot two, mildly curvy, and had heavily invested in her 'Gyaru" appearance. "Just a moment please," she called out, as she briskly walked to the door.

Upon opening the door, Lucy saw three women. The one on the right was tall, curvy, had waist-length black hair, and was dressed like a stereotypical government agent. The one on the left was also tall and curvy, but had waist-length red hair, and green angel wings. She was dressed in beige and black tactical gear. The one in the middle...

"MUUUUM!" Lucy called out. "The ICEP guys just brought some weirdo to our front door!"

"What was that?" Maria called out, as Smith and Freya tried to suppress their laughter.

===/===

"Erika Midori Kobayashi," said Maria. "Twelve years. Twelve years, and only phone calls."

"Aww, man!" said Lucy. "The full name. Mum's not happy with you."

"Why?" asked Maria. "Why didn't you visit earlier? Was it because you didn't know how we'd react to your girlfriend."

Lucy spat out her tea. "Girlfriend?! Erika has a girlfriend? Where is she?"

"Right here," replied Freya, raising her hand slightly and waving it.

"That's one of the reasons," said Erika. "The other reason was because of what happened twelve years ago."

"You mean back when Mum and Dad tried to lecture you about not phoning for two weeks, and then you saying you now work for some research company?" Lucy chimed in.

"Yeah,"replied Erika. "That time. The reason you guys didn't hear from me for two weeks was because I'd actually been kidnapped by that international trafficking ring. …_(mumble, mumble, mumble)_..."

"What was that last part you just mumbled?" asked Maria.

"I was murdered by them," Erika whispered. "I died twelve years ago. Miss Smith is not just Freya's ICEP coordinator. She's mine too."

The sound of grocery bags falling to the floor comes from behind them, shortly followed by the unmistakable sound of a person passing out and hitting the floor.

===/===

Shiro Kobayashi woke up to concerned voices. The first face he saw was his eldest daughter.

_Oh, crap!_ he thought. _I've gone back in time to when Erika was a teenager!_

Then the bleached-blonde head of his youngest daughter appeared. _Okay, maybe not._

"He doesn't appear to be concussed," said a voice he recognised as 'Freya' from the phone calls that Erika regularly made.

"Was I hearing things, when you said you were murdered?" he asked Erika. "Are you a ghost? I can't see through you."

"Actually, I'm technically haunted armour," replied Erika. "This is just a projected image." She briefly switched off her projection unit, so they could see. Freya caught Erika's micro-drone before it could fall, and manually reactivated it. "I'm actually at the airbase, in a secure hangar."

"Looks like we're not going to have grandchildren to spoil, until either your brother or sister get married," he said.

"...about that..." Freya and Erika said simultaneously.

"Yes," said Maria, with her eyes lighting up.

"The kids are still back home," said Freya. "My eldest is sixteen, and I have some people keeping an eye on them."

"Why didn't you bring them with you?" asked Maria.

"Because there wouldn't be room," replied Erika. "We have several children in our care. So we thought it would be better for just the two of us to visit first, and then work something out for the whole family in the near future. It would also give you a chance to visit Mizuchi and her family. They live close by."

"How many kids are we talking about?" asked Lucy. "Surely it couldn't be that difficult."

"I've counted," said Smith. "They have thirteen people under eighteen in the care of themselves and five, no six, uh ...servants?... for want of a better term. Currently, the Director of ICEP is negotiating to allow Freya to purchase a larger property. They can't all keep split between her ship and both apartments."

"Ship? What sort of ship?" asked Lucy. Images of a yacht sailing between tropical islands flitting across her imagination.

"A mobile dry-dock," replied Freya. "I'm an engineer by trade." The images in Lucy's imagination vanished.

Shiro suddenly realised what his ears heard. "Mizuchi has a family? Her? She's a workaholic, bordering on alcoholic."

"Didn't Uncle Takumi or Aunt Nabiki tell you?" asked Erika. "She had a 'fated meeting' a couple of years ago, and she introduced her to them last year."

"Sounds romantic," said Lucy, with stars in her eyes. "Wait. ...her?"

"She's a good influence on Mizuchi. Their daughter, Kanna, is very well behaved, and Tohru has assured me that Mizuchi doesn't drink even half as much as she did when they first met."

Everyone turned to the sound of the front door slamming.

"Bloody Frank and Kazu!" came a male voice from the entryway. "Dragged me all the way to the airport." His voice went sarcastic, _"they're bringing in some monsters from Tokyo."_ His voice went back to normal, "we get to the airbase, and it turns out they're just testing some sort of giant robots."

"Giant robots, really?" said Erika. "Shows that you can't always trust rumours."

"Hi Erika," he said half-heartedly, before doing a double-take. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking at what appears to be a Yanki-version of my brother Luke," replied Erika. "So what were you doing hanging around the airport this morning?"

"Frank, Kazu, and a few others went to protest about letting monster-people into Japan. By the time we rode our bikes to the airbase, the college guys had smashed up some ICEP van, and the robots were going back into the hangar.."

"You do know that some of those liminals were born in Japan?" said Smith.

Luke looked at Smith, suddenly realising the family had guests. "So what if they were," he replied. "It doesn't mean I have to like them."

"It looks like next month's family trip will be awkward," commented Freya. You should at least try to get on with your nieces and nephew."

Luke turned towards the new voice. His jaw dropped, his cheeks went red, and his eyes went all sparkly, and he started speaking gibberish. "She's gorgeous."

"Down! Bad brother!" said Lucy and Erika together.

"Looks like his attitude to liminals just changed said Smith.

===/===

**Oborozuka, the O'Reilly apartment**

Director Nakahara was drinking a cup of coffee, and talking to the blonde arachne in front of him.

"It's still a lot to take in," he said. "If the others hadn't told me, I would never have known you were holographic."

"I did have to make a couple of adjustments," said Harmony. "My eyes were originally configured to match Kuroko's and Midori's, but then I saw Ventris, and decided to at least match mine up with the arachnes from this world. I kept the blue, though."

"This is pretty good coffee, by the way," commented Nakahara. "What blend is it."

"It comes from a planet a couple of FTL jumps away," she replied. "Don't tell your niece about it, or we'll never be able to keep up with her drinking habit."

Nakahara laughed. "Good point. Her ideal husband would need to take out a small loan, to keep up with her habit. Out of curiosity, why did you pick that shape?"

"It was in one of the other computers linked to my system," she replied. "Hikari was working on making her sister a set of prosthetics to match her original body, and I just decided to 'borrow' the template for myself."

"Fair enough. Anyway, I've pulled a few strings with other government departments, and you can move into that place Hikari and young Kuroko found. The paperwork should be finalised within the next week or two. Ha, young Kuroko. I'm still going to have to get used to that."

"Yeah, that world's versions of your families were pretty close."

"Even Hikari, Mizuchi and Hiroshi have started calling me Uncle Roshi," replied Nakahara. "You don't know the half of it though. When I opened up those video messages, there was a hidden file, set to my voice-print. That 'Gene-loom' thing you guys use can be modified to take advantage of the quadruple-helix that Freya's ancestors have. Although, it's apparently illegal to do the modifications. Young Kuroko and Midori have _three_ mothers. Do not tell them, or my niece just yet."

"I know. I'm guessing you're going to have to speak with Andromeda," said Harmony. "She figured it out straight away, being the Irish Rose's medical system. You myself and her are the only three people in this universe that know. We'll have to tell them eventually."

"Give me some time to figure out how we're going to tell them," said Nakahara. "I'm worried about how my brother-in-law, Hiroto will react."

"I heard there was something that happened, but haven't heard the details."

"Let me tell it," said a woman's voice from the entryway.

"Hi Uncle Roshi," said Mizuchi. "I saw Aunt Shizuka at the train station, looking lost, so I offered to show her around. When she mentioned she was looking for you, I brought her straight here."

"I was surprised to find out this helpful bundle of happiness was Freya's daughter," said Shizuka. "I was even more surprised to find out that you and our niece were keeping tabs on them."

"So, why would Hiroto have issues with Freya?" asked Nakahara.

"When he was fifteen, he had a crush on her. The other soldiers that were staying at the onsen 'encouraged' him to confess to her, even though I told him not to."

"She turned him down?" asked Nakahara.

"No," said Shizuka. "He walked in on her and Mum, uh, enjoying each other's company."

"Well, it was the '60s," said Nakahara. "I'm sure he's gotten over it by now."


	20. Chapter 20

(Chapter 20)

**Oborozuka, the rooftop of the apartment complex**

The Nakaharas were having a shared dinner with the 'extended family' of the top two floors of the apartment. There were three barbecues in use, with Tohru, Kuroko, and Georgie cooking, while Harmony and Mrs Sasakibe were ferrying the cooked food to the serving area.

Mrs Nakahara couldn't help but notice how all of the children interacted with each other. The two young dragons were the most active, although Kanna regularly took time out of playing, to prioritise interacting with the younger of the Saikawa sisters. Mizuchi, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to get an extra-shy harpy and cat-girl to join in with the others. They seemed to be extra skittish around humans for some reason.

A voice behind her answered her unasked question. "Those two were rescued from an unpleasant situation. Same goes for the older sister of the nekomata. She's over there, with the two dragonewts."

Mrs Nakahara turned to face the woman who had just addressed her. She appeared to be some variation of harpy, except she had horns and an additional pair of 'normal' arms. She was holding a plate of food in one hand, a glass in the other, and was using one of her 'harpy wings' to pour herself a drink. "From what my husband has told me, I'm guessing you're Calliope. I'm Shizuka Nakahara."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs Nakahara," said Kahl'ryleh-hophiit. "Are you as surprised as I was to see how easily almost everybody on the building was getting along?"

"There were still quite a few that refused to join us," she replied.

"Yeah," said the Psyren. "However, it had nothing to do with liminals being in the group. It was because they don't approve of the 'lifestyle choices' of some of the people here."

"I don't understand."

"Well, what was your initial reaction to how Fiora interacts with Astrid?"

"They make a really nice couple. _Ohhh._ I get it now."

"Human society can handle some changes really easily, but will fight, kicking and screaming, against others. Every society has its taboos, what it accepts as normal, and what it considers abnormal. Oh! Now we know what species of harpy Hitomi-chan is."

Mrs Nakahara turned around to see Mizuchi extinguishing a small fire. The young harpy was looking completely surprised. "Didn't anyone know she was a firebird?"

"Looks like she didn't even know she was a firebird."

===/===

**Okinawa**

Dinner was mostly going well. It was slightly awkward, with Luke picking at his food, and being unable to form a coherent sentence whenever Freya spoke to him. The family was also not used to Erika no longer being able to eat, but this was counterbalanced by Freya easily eating enough to make up for the difference. Smith had left earlier in the afternoon to stay with her parents.

"That's a neat trick, being able to hide your wings like that," said Shiro. "I guess that's how you're able to run an engineering firm without having to use intermediaries. My boss is a Kobold, and his family have had to do that for years."

"Something like that," replied Freya. "When I was younger, I worked for the United Nations. One of our jobs was to investigate companies that could potentially be fronts for illegal organisations. My company was originally set up so we were able to do those investigations while diverting any potential counter-investigations from tracking it back to the UN. We found four potentially-suspicious organisations during the first six years of operation, three of which were fronts for non-humans to be able to trade between themselves and humans. We left them alone, and just added notes to our files. The fourth one, International Electromatics, required a special UN intervention. When our department was shut down, I was able to keep the company running, as it was set up in my name, as I was paying for its operation anyway."

"What exactly does your company do?" asked Maria.

"Mostly salvage and repairs of damaged vessels, these days." Freya replied. "My eldest is a bit of a mecha-otaku, and started researching how to make a lot of the things she saw in anime into real things. Out of those two mecha Luke saw, she built the black one. One of my relatives took inspiration from her designs and borrowed some of her anime collection. He gifted me with the other one."

"Wait? Those were mecha?" said Luke, finally working out how to speak again. "Your company makes mecha?"

"And the mecha-otaku part of my twin brother finally overrides his need to fit in with his delinquent friends," said Lucy.

"I can do you one better, little brother," said Erika. "I am a mecha."

"What?" reacted the twins together.

"I said I was haunted armour," replied Erika. "My soul was bonded to the battle computer of that black mecha that Luke saw."

===/===

**Oborozuka**

Everyone was eating now, even the children had stopped running around.

The elevator door opened, to reveal a young man with with green and yellow hair.

"Good evening Mr Yana," greeted Tohru. "I see you've finally got some nights off."

"They finally found a part-timer," he replied. "She's an owl-harpy. I spent the past few nights training her. The short-term memory issues seem to only affect diurnal harpies, so she's on her first unsupervised night tonight."

"That's good to hear," said Mr Nakahara. "I'll have to check in with your store's owner some time. Where are my manners. I'm Roshi Nakahara. I'm with the Interspecies Cultural Exchange Program."

"Good evening Mr Nakahara," replied Yana. "I'm Tetsuo Yana."

Kuroko stood up from where she was sitting. "Mr Yana, our mothers had put aside presents, as thank you gifts, for helping us move into the apartments, We decided to wait until you had time off from your busy schedule, before giving you yours. Could everyone excuse me for a moment?"

A few minutes later, Kuroko returned with a guitar case. "Personally, I think its bad form to regift items, but Mama-Freya said you'd appreciate this." She handed the case to Mr Yana.

He opened the case, and passed out. Kuroko rushed in and caught him, before he hit the ground.

While some of the others were checking to make sure Mr Yana was okay, Mizuchi had a look at the contents of the guitar case.

"_Wooaah!"_ she whispered, almost reverentially. "I hope this isn't damaged. Mr Yana would have a heart attack."

"What's so important about what's in the case?" asked Mr Nakahara. "Kuroko didn't seem too impressed."

"She's from a parallel earth, so she has no idea about what this represents," Mizuchi replied.

"Oh," said Mrs Nakahara. "It's a Stratocaster. They're pretty valuable."

"Valuable doesn't describe it." said Mizuchi. "This is a Legendary Holy Relic."

"I don't see how an electric guitar could ...be... ...described... _oh my_," Mr Nakahara's voice slowly became reverent, as he got a better look at the item. "Is that genuine?"

"Knowing my mother," said Hikari, as she joined the group. "Very much so."

The four of them were staring at a Stratocaster guitar. It was signed by Jimi Hendrix.

===/===

**Dragons' Homeworld, Leviathan Beach**

Clemene and a few squadrons of paladins were lying in wait. This was the place that the Emperor of Demise was rumoured to be meeting with the permanent ambassador of that green-winged angel's country. The nobles he had sent to Red Lake may have been idiots, but at least they managed to stop the Chaos faction and the beasts from setting up near the city. He just didn't count on there being a back-up location, deeper in the Emperor's territories. Standing on the shoreline were three figures, one male and two females. They were dressed in strange armour, and the female on the right was leaning on some sort of ornate trident.

"Should we take them, my Lord?" asked one of the paladins. "There are only three of them."

"Not yet," said Clemene. "They'll be less alert when the others come to greet them."

"How did they even arrive?" asked another paladin. "There are no footprints, and I cannot see a boat."

"That's because they've obviously used dark magic," said the first paladin.

"Quiet," commanded Clemene. "The Emperor comes." He pointed towards a red shape flying towards the rendezvous point.

===/===

The Emperor of Demise changed to his 'human' form, and walked up to the group at the shoreline.

On the left was a dark-skinned woman with golden hair. She had a similar size and build to his daughter. She had black wings, and looked similar to a succubus. In the middle was a tall male. His size and build was similar to the Northern raider tribesmen. On the right was a woman with pale blue skin, and dark blue hair. She was of a similar build to the other woman, but looked like a water-nymph.

"Which one of you is Ouroboros?" he asked.

"I'm Ouroboros Sturmdrachen," said the male. "These are my wives and Generals." He indicated towards the dark-skinned woman. "This is my Air commander, Essar-Ennex Thunderwing." He then indicated towards the other woman. "This is my Naval commander, Siviyei Enterprise. When are the rest of the people coming?"

"He probably asked them to stay in a safer area," said Essar. "There are a few hundred knights stationed to try an ambush. Siviyei should probably make her 'dramatic entrance' a bit earlier than planned."

Siviyei looked like she was concentrating on something. "Preparing for atmospheric entry. Retro-thrusters activating. Entry in ...3 ...2 ...1."

===/===

_**BOOM!**_

The paladins felt, more than heard the noise from above them. The horses panicked, and ran.

Clemene looked towards the sky, and saw something incomprehensible to him. "How much mana is that thing consuming?" It was clearly some sort of enchanted ship, but it was the size of a city and made out of metal. Instead of staying aloft with wind magic, and being steered by sails, his eyes could see a mixture of fire and gravity-manipulation. What 'sails' it did have were made of metal, and looked to be ornamental, similar to the wings on a water-dragon. Towards it bow was the vessel's name _**CVA Enterprise**_.

"Dragons!" called one of the Paladins, pointing further towards the bow of the vessel. Several winged, flying objects were deploying from the ...deck?... of the vessel. At first glance, they looked like adolescent dragons.

"Over there!" called another paladin. Where he was indicating, a black flying object, easily twice the size or the 'metal dragons' dropped whatever concealment magic it was using. It reconfigured itself into a metal giant, the word _**Thunderwing**_ picked out on its arm. "Retreat or surrender!" boomed a woman's voice from the giant.

Everyone, including Clemene, ran.


	21. Chapter 21

(Chapter 21)

**Oborozuka**

Things were relatively uneventful for the next few days.

Riko briefly got jealous of Mizuchi and Kanna spending a lot of time alone together, until she found out Kanna was being taught how to adjust her human-transformation spell to synchronise with Riko's aging. (She had already found out that Kanna wasn't human just after the 'Azad Incident' happened. She didn't care that the love of her life was a dragon.)

The O'Reillys moved into their new residence, with the old apartments becoming an (unlisted) emergency accommodation centre for any humans affected by liminal abuse, and the spare rooms at the new place being emergency accommodation for liminals. Freya also moved her inherited fairy colony over from America. (The resultant paperwork resulted in having to bribe Smith with off-world sourced coffee for a month to get her to speak to her again.)

===/===

**Oborozuka High School**

"Settle down class two-three," said the teacher. "This week is our annual health-check time. Over the next few days you will be called in, based on your PE groups. This means that you and class two-four will be called either after lunch today, or at the start of tomorrow. Are there any questions?"

"I have one," said Hirada. "Will the twin freaks be seeing a vet, or a mechanic?"

"That's enough of that," said the teacher. "You have been warned before about your attitude."

"She's just upset because being a closet chuunibyo looks more pathetic, when there are people out there, like the two Yuki-onna middle-school girls, with actual powers," commented Hikari. "Kuroko and I saw the goth-loli outfits you and your friends were wearing a few nights ago. Your eye-patch should be on the other eye, by the way."

"W-what are you talking about?" spluttered Ruri, from the other side of the classroom. "We don't dress up and pretend to be dark wizards. That's only something middle-schoolers do."

===/===

Doctor Edo looked at her paperwork. This was the first time having to include non-humans in her reports, so ICEP assigned her an assistant. "Andromeda-san, do you know what these green forms are for?"

"The green ones are for people with a non-standard body type," she replied. "Wings, extra limbs, and so on. It's so the data-entry clerk knows to use the new program."

"Oh, yeah. Doctor Edo saw the Kobold girl this morning."

"The class two-three and two-four girls should be coming in a few minutes."

"Let's see, the first student from my group is Kobayashi, Kuroko. According to this, she's a variant of Weaver Arachne. Height 182.5cm, chest 95cm... she's way underweight for an arachne of her size."

"You'll know why, when you see her. Kuroko-chan, you're up first."

In walked a girl, if her paperwork wasn't on the green forms, she wouldn't have realised she was looking at an arachne, as the 'spider' part of her body was missing.

_This explains why her weight is so low,_ thought the doctor. "Good morning Kobayashi-san, I'm Doctor Edo. Could you please strip down to your underwear, so we can begin your examination."

Kuroko's right arm and both legs appeared to be some sort of prosthetics. "Andromeda-san, you don't seem to be surprised by these," Doctor Edo said, as she did the usual ear-nose-throat checks and Andromeda used some small tools to make adjustments to Kuroko's arm.

"Why do you think I was assigned to assist you?" stated Andromeda. "Hikari and myself are the only two ...uh... people in the syst- _country_ who know how to fabricate, repair, and maintain techno-organic components."

Doctor Edo checked Kuroko's eyes next. Unlike most arachne, her central eyes appeared to be her 'main' eyes, with the two smaller sets appearing to be facial-jewellery at first glance. "Kobayashi-san, has your main left eye recently been injured, or become irritated?"

"No, Doctor. Why do you ask?" she replied.

"It is distinctly yellow, and your file says all six of your eyes are green."

"_What?!"_ Kuroko and Andromeda exclaimed simultaneously.

Andromeda interrupted her work on Kuroko's left leg, to look at the eye. "Yep. Definitely yellow. Did you let your sister 'experiment' on you overnight?"

"No. She was too busy 'testing out' her Sylph form with a certain holographic arachne," she replied.

"You're going to have to have a chat to your aunt Lucoa," said Andromeda, checking Kuroko's hair for some reason. "Doctor Edo, could you include in your miscellaneous notes section the following, please? 'Classified section: QZ/003. Inherited eyes, horns. Increase check-ups to every three months until further notice.' Thanks."

"What's that about?" asked Kuroko.

"Your body is either adapting to your new body-type, or some dormant genetics are kicking in with your sixteenth birthday coming up."

"Both of your hearts are fine," said Doctor Edo. "That's something I've got to get used to. You can get dressed again, Kobayashi-san."

As Kuroko turned, to put on her uniform, Andromeda hesitantly commented, "...Doctor... could you add two more notes? First one is 'Dominant species change, refer to QZ/003 or VS/02B.' The second note is "Classified section: VS/02B inherited wings.'"

"What's going on?" Kuroko asked.

"I don't know how to put this," said Andromeda. "Your Grandmothers' genes are kicking in. Oborozuka now has _eight_ dragons, and we're going to have to re-tailor your shirts."

A pair of wings, with rainbow-coloured, crystalline feathers had materialised on Kuroko's back.

===/===

"Did you hear, Sannae-chan?" asked Miko. "The doctors found something wrong with your friend, Kuroko, and they sent her home."

"Oh my," replied Georgie. "That doesn't sound good. Maybe something went wrong with one of her prosthetics."

"Maybe," said Miko. "someone did say they were experimental."

"Let's go ask Hikari-chan," said one of the other girls in their group. "She's her sister, so they might have told her."

They easily found her, eating lunch with the rest of the auto-shop students. "Excuse me, Hikari-chan," asked Georgie. "Do you know what happened to your sister?"

"Only a little bit," she replied. "It's something to do with her parents."

"I thought you said you were twins," one of the auto-shop group said. A hint of suspicion was in his voice.

"She's my Quantum Twin," said Hikari.

"Your what?" most of the group asked.

"I know!" said Miko, excitedly. "She's you from a parallel world isn't she?"

"How did you come up with that answer?" Georgie asked.

"Didn't you look at my video collection, last time you visited?" Miko replied.

===/===

**O'Reilly Residence**

Lucoa, and Freya were examining Kuroko's wings, while Erika was handing Smith a cup of coffee.

"Does this mean extra paperwork for me?" Smith asked.

"No," replied Freya. "That was the whole point of the green medical forms. The hospital system gets to deal with medical paperwork from now on. While I think about it, doesn't coming here break your cover as a lazy bureaucrat?"

"Of course not," she replied. "As far as anyone's concerned, I've just skipped out on filing reports, to sponge free coffee, using the flimsy excuse of a school-child sent home with the sniffles."

"Clever idea, Kurko-kun," commented Lucoa. "Kuroko-chan, have you noticed anything different when you look at people?"

"A bit of a coloured glow seems to be around everyone."

"Close your left eye."

"Everything looks normal again."

"Looks like you have my ability to judge the quality of a person's soul. Kuroko-kun probably got her similar ability from my Japanese counterpart having a child with one of her ancestors."

"How does that work with Hikari and myself?" Freya asked. "I'm a monster, both literally and figuratively, and Hikari is me with her own hang-ups added."

"Explain why you think you're a monster," stated Smith.

"Once, I had single-handedly eliminated an entire planetary system," said Freya. "With extreme prejudice. Not even children were exempt from the slaughter."

"Were their deaths necessary?" asked Smith.

"Yes. They'd all been engineered as bio-weapons, by their government. They were carriers for an incurable, lethal, virus, and I was the only one immune to it. I had to hunt down every single one of them, or countless lives would be lost in the ensuing pandemic."

"How did you feel afterwards?"

"Like shit. I can still see the terror on some of their faces."

"Then you're not a monster. You have a conscience."

===/===

(Chapter 22, onwards involves a time-skip of about 5 or 6 years)


	22. Chapter 22

(chapter 22)

**ASAKA**

Mizuchi could smell them before she heard them, not that they were trying to be heard. Whoever they were probably didn't realise they weren't as stealthy as they believed they were. She carefully handed her briefcase to her Senpai.

"Aunt Kuroko, I know you don't like paperwork," she whispered. "But I think you and Mr Kurusu should go back over it. _Inside_. I've just got to get something from the car."

"Don't take too long, Mizuchi-chan," Miss Smith took the hint, and led Mr Kurusu back inside.

"Why did Miss O'Reilly call you her aunt? I thought she was just a high-schooler on work experience."

"I've known her since she was ten," Smith replied. "Her family were one of my first assignments."

"There weren't many host families six years ago." Miia commented, as she slithered into the room. "Did they host an Oni, or a Kobold?"

"She's also the first person I've ever seen, who instinctively avoids my webs," commented Rachnera. "Her home-stay was obviously an arachne."

"Didn't either of you notice the eyes and horns?" Smith asked, as she was handed a cup of coffee.

"Suu noticed," said Suu, holding a smaller-version of herself to her chest. "She also hides a tail under that long dress."

"She's taking an awfully long time coming back from the car," commented Kurusu.

The front door burst open, startling Miia, causing her to instinctively wrap her tail around Kurusu.

An unconscious orc was amongst the wreckage.

===/===

"...I've just got to get something from the car."

Mizuchi walked towards the front gate, pretending that everything was normal.

"_Are you sure this time?"_ whispered a voice.

"_How many red-haired sixteen-year-old girls can there possibly be?"_ whispered another voice.

"_Too _many," whispered the first _voice. "The boss is getting impatient with us. However_,_ the other person called her 'Mizuchi', so we might have found the right person this time."_

Mizuchi hesitated, pretending to look at her smartphone. _They're after me, and they've screwed up a couple of times. _She continued towards where the car was parked.

"Bag her!" Six orcs surrounded the teenager.

"Look at the rack on that," commented one of them. "Could we have some fun with her, before we hand her over to the client?"

"Client? Are you sure they paid you enough?" Mizuchi shifted into a fighting stance.

"Aww! The little girl thinks she's tough!" one of the orcs made a grab for her, and was surprised when she stepped into his reach, and effortlessly threw him into another orc. She then took advantage of her lower positioning, and charged into another orc.

"Fuck! The bitch has horns!" he said, as one of her horns pierced his flak jacket. He grabbed her waist, and hauled, lifting her off the ground. "Someone get her. ARRGH!" he dropped her, as he felt something slash his arm.

"Bitch has a blade on her tail!" called out another orc, as he drew a knife.

"Boss! Did we pick the wrong girl? She's obviously a liminal."

_This one must be the brains of the group,_ Mizuchi thought._ Although that's not saying much._

"We don't know that," said 'knifeboy'. "She fits the description the boss gave. FUUUCK!"

The rest of the group winced at the sound of the bones in his arm snapping, as the girl struck his arm.

THWACK! One of the orcs went flying through the front door of the Kurusu residence, as a blonde centaur joined the fray.

_Ka-chunk!_

The noise of the firing-pins of some AK47s being primed got the attention of the group. "Get into the van, or the mermaid gets it!"

===/===

**JSDF Special Training Facility, Location Undisclosed**

"How can four teenagers be outperforming a veteran squadron?" Captain Sakurada asked the Sylph sitting next to him in the observation tower. "They may be using paint, but something tells me they'd still perform well in live-fire exercises."

"Training against liminals is something you guys haven't had experience with," replied Hikari. "The older members of your battalion, who used to be attached to UNIT, are the only ones who are experienced in fighting non-humans. Unfortunately, they're all approaching mandatory retirement age."

"Those four kids fight too coherently. It's got me worried."

"Well, Galadriel was rescued from being a child-soldier. However, all four of them use their natural abilities. Galadriel is an expert marksman, and is using a camouflage cloak I picked up on my travels. Ventris is naturally stealthy, and good at setting traps with her webs. Renata is also naturally stealthy, and is a natural with small-arms. Being an Echidna, also gives her an edge in close combat. Hiroshi is a natural at strategic-thinking, and tactics. Plus he's good at cyber-warfare, and has probably hacked all of your satellite and drone-feeds."

"He hacked our cameras?" Sakurada, clicks on a couple of computer monitors. "Where are they?"

Hikari typed in a couple of commands. "These are from UNIT's satellites and my drones." Three of the four teenagers become visible. "Galadriel is here, by the way." Hikari points to an elevated platform. "There's the barrel of her sniper rifle."

"How does your little brother know their abilities so well, at such a young age?"

"Galadriel and Ventris have been his girlfriends since he was ten, and Renata joined in not long after. I don't know how long ago they started 'sharing' him, but they all instinctively protect each other."

"Three girlfriends, and they aren't at each others' throats? The only thing that makes me unable to believe that, is Lamiaii don't like to share outside of their tribes."

"It is a common trait, I agree. However, a few of them aren't. You'll find that many individuals with unusual traits and talents exist amongst all species. If the exchange program didn't exist, your daughter would be trying to learn magic on her own."

A Warrant Officer, and a blonde arachne appeared up the side of the tower. "Sorry to interrupt, Captain," apologised the Warrant officer.

"We've just received an important phone call," said Harmony. "Mizuchi has been kidnapped, along with Princess Meroune Lorelei du Neptune."

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Hiroshi! Get your girlfriends. The exercise is cancelled.

**++ShadowStalker013:** What happened?

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Mizuchi has been kidnapped.

The JSDF's squad leader feels a tap on his shoulder. "Mission's aborted," Hiroshi said.

Red flares suddenly appear over the battlefield, originating from Hiroshi's position. Galadriel puts away her cloak, revealing her position. Two of the other JSDF squad are also shocked to find out how close Ventris and Renata were to stealing their flag. Both squads head back to the staging-area. They could already hear the transport helicopters approaching.

===/===

**Somewhere**

A black van is driving recklessly through the streets. "Keep that gun pointed at the mermaid," commanded the orc with the broken arm. "She's the only thing keeping the girl in check. Nazbit! Fix the airconditioning!" he directed to the driver. "It's freezing in here."

"I can't figure it out!" the driver whined. "The heater is on full!"

"What are you smiling at?" demanded one of the orcs with the AK47s.

"I was just remembering what temperature it takes to make petrol freeze," replied Mizuchi, as the van's engines start to splutter. The van lurched as it was impacted from the side, while running a red light. Mizuchi took advantage of the distraction to grab the mermaid, kick open the door, and run.

"How exciting!" Mero exclaimed, as Mizuchi unfurled her wings, to keep the bullets from hitting her. "I didn't think there were any dragons in Japan! I definitely didn't think I'd ever see a Frost Dragon in my lifetime!"

"Now you have something to tell your little girl, when she grows up."

"I suppose Zuu will find this to be an interesting story."

"I'm not talking about Suu's baby. You're pregnant too. I can feel her heartbeat."

"Oh my!" Mero exclaimed. "By the way. Why aren't you flying?"

"I'm still not strong enough to carry passengers," replied Mizuchi. "I'm still only a baby, by dragon-standards."

===/===

**Somewhere else**

A shadowy figure is talking on the phone, his right eye twitching as his contact is reporting the 'progress' of the orcs.

"Did they get the wrong girl again?" he snarled. "My granddaughter being a redhead does not automatically make all redheads my granddaughter."

"They were pretty sure, this time," replied the contact. "The ICEP coordinator she was with even called her by name."

"Right now, those bunglers are chasing a _demi-human_ around, not my granddaughter."

"With all due respect sir, what do we really know about her? Your son did dump that mechanic's daughter, on your orders, before you found out they were keeping secrets. This girl is the only Mizuchi O'Reilly in the prefecture."


	23. Chapter 23

(chapter 23)

**Dragon's Homeworld, Leviathan Beach**

The last time Clemene had stood on this cliff, he and his paladins were fleeing in terror. This time he was here for a different reason. From this vantage point, he and Queen Ursula could see the ...flight deck?... of the offworlders' city-ship. It was always patrolled, day or night by at least 6 of those transforming flying machines. The deck itself had a mix of both the dragon- and knight-versions of these, also on guard duty.

On its own platform, towards the aft of the vessel, between the arcane structures they can't yet understand, sat the black shape of Lady Thunderwing. She was one of the city-ship's three rulers, an arcane fusion of demon and machine. Instead of using flames and wings, like the other machines, she spun twin clusters of sword-blades. The distinctive thundering noise of her approach was enough to panic horses, and scatter peasants.

The sea, surrounding the city-ship also had its own mechanical denizens, servants of Lady Enterprise, who the city-ship was named for. Where Thunderwing's minions were dragons and knights, Enterprise's were Sirens, and Mermaids.

However, they were here to talk with Lord Sturmdrachen, and Crown Princess O'Reilly.

One of the Siren-ships was already heading towards the shore to meet them, so they climbed down towards the beach.

===/===

**Japan, possibly the outskirts of Tokyo**

Mizuchi was getting tired. Her magic barrier was starting to fail, she could no longer plant magic-mines, and some of the AK47 shots were starting to get past. One of them narrowly missing Mero's head.

Many of the bystanders were either running in panic, or hiding in whatever cover they could find, but the sound of approaching sirens meant that at least one of them had called the police. Mizuchi sighed in relief, as a police van pulled up in front of them, and half a dozen riot police stepped out.

"We'll take it from here," the squad sergeant called out. Mizuchi's relief turned to despair, as he drew a silenced pistol, and aimed it towards them. He fired, and the distinctive red 'feathers' of a tranq-round stuck out of Mero's neck. Mizuchi felt a sharp pain in her neck, and used the 'thumb' on her wing to pull out the dart.

"What the hell!?" she exclaimed, as more rounds were shot into her. It took a total of twelve rounds to finally drop her to her knees.

The last thing she heard, before passing out was the Orcs arguing with them about their cut of the profits

===/===

**In the skies, heading for Tokyo**

Hiroshi was listening to the radio-chatter between the two helicopters. Not via the headset he was wearing, he was just using his natural abilities.

"_This is Delta-one to base. Package Alpha secured. En-route to rendezvous to LZ to Package Bravo coordinates."_

"_Negative Delta-one. Package Bravo not at this location. Papa-three misidentified possible new merch as Bravo. Change heading to secondary LZ."_

"Honey, my headset has gone dead," said Ventris.

"Mine too, Beloved," said Renata.

"Same here, Darling," said Galadriel.

"Sorry kid," said the pilot's voice over Hiroshi's headset. "I know we served with your Momma, but that bounty your Grandpappy put out on you is going to fund our retirement. If you look out of your window, you'll see what will happen to your girls, if you misbehave." A body is pushed out of the other helicopter. "The rook was a good kid, but we can't have him tattling to the authorities. Nothing personal. It's just business."

Unnoticed to the crew of either helicopter, the body fell through a Gate that opened below him.

"You do know Hikari will come for us" Hiroshi replied.

"What can she do? Girl dresses like a fairy. Besides, if she tries anything, we'll shoot one of the girls."

**++ShadowStalker013: **Did you hear what he said?

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Yes. I'll back off, for now. Private Winters only has a limited resurrection-window, anyway.

===/===

**Location Unknown**

Mero slowly regained consciousness. Her head felt like a bad hangover. As she began to take in her surroundings, she realised she was handcuffed to a bathtub. The swaying and rocking she could feel, placed her on a ship, somewhere.

Nearby were several cages, each containing red-haired girls that were roughly the same age as Mizuchi. _Where was Mizuchi?_

Her thoughts were answered by the sound of a fist hitting flesh, followed by a groan. Mizuchi was in her underwear, and chained by her wrists from the ceiling. Her mouth was gagged, her wings were bound, and her legs and tail anchored to the floor, by further chains. One of the orcs had just punched her in the gut. "That was for Truffle's arm. _This_" THUMP, groan "is for Skull's shoulder. And _**THIS**_" THUMP, THUMP, THUMP "is for my van."

"That's enough, Nazbit," said a human, whose voice matched the 'police sergeant' that shot her. "We can't sell her if she's too damaged. Nazbit moved away from Mizuchi's unconscious body.

"What about that tail?' Nazbit asked. "Can't have that blade sticking her new owner. I'll get the chainsaw."

"Now, now. Not just yet. The buyers need to see how rare this specimen is. She's the first dragonewt I've seen with the wing-thumbs, and a naturally-occurring blade on her tail. I still can't believe it took twelve darts to drop her"

_That's because she's a dragon, not a dragonewt, you moron,_ thought Mero.

"Lonnergane!" called one of the guards. "Delta-one and Delta-two are incoming, with Package Alpha, plus three."

===/===

**En-route to the secondary LZ**

"I honestly didn't see Freya as the type to settle down and have kids, doc," said Brown.

"I didn't either,"said doc. "She would've been in her sixties when cosplay-girl was adopted."

"Cosplay-girl?" Ventris asked.

"Those fake wings," replied doc. "They were quite well made. All of that detail, too."

"I saw those," said Brown. "All of those little "Deathly Hallows' symbols lining her wings must have taken forever."

"I saw Freya a couple of years ago," said Greene. "She still looks like she's in her twenties."

"How is that possible?" Caulford asked, from the pilot seat.

"Girl was a liminal," said Greene. "During the Onsen Incident, I saw her wings."

"Makes sense UNIT would include a few liminals in the squad," said doc. "Also makes sense she'd adopt so many liminal kids. Didn't she grow up in an orphanage? Probably didn't want these guys to go through what she did."

"Hikari wasn't adopted," said Hiroshi. "Neither were Mizuchi and myself."

"I hate to burst your bubble kid," said doc, "but your mother played for the other team."

"She 'played' for both, actually," said Hiroshi. "Looks like you didn't know her as well as you thought."

===/===

"About time!" Lonnergane exclaimed. "What took you so long?"

"Navigation went haywire," said Brown". Package Alpha has _...abilities..._ It took twelve tranq rounds, and threatening his girlfriends, to subdue him.

The freight elevator opened, Hiroshi's unconscious body was being carried on Ventris's spider-section, and he was being tended to by a medic. All three girls had their hands behind their heads.

"Keep the kid under, doc," said Delta-leader. "We don't want him messing with the boat's navigation."

"MIIIZUUUCHIII!" screamed Renata.

"What have you monsters done to Honey's little sister?" said Ventris.

"Oh shit!" said Delta-leader. "Rick, what the fuck did you do to Package Bravo?! Greene, Browne, get her down from there. Doc, check her vitals."

"This is FUBAR," said Greene, as he and Brown lowered the unconscious dragon to the floor, and ungagged her. "Doc, how is she?"

"She's been shot at least four times, and someone's been using her as a punching-bag," said doc. "How do you think she is?" He put a stethoscope to her chest. "Fuck! Get the crash-cart! She's fibrillating! If she dies, the client will kill us!"

"That will definitely kill her," said Renata. "She has a binary cardiovascular system."

"Shit!' Brown exclaimed. "That would have screwed us! The defibrillator would have killed her."

"You do know you're already screwed, right?" Galadriel commented. "Your client isn't going to be too happy about the post-capture injuries. That mermaid over there is Meroune Lorelei du Neptune, meaning her mother is going to hunt you to the ends of the Earth, and kidnapping us means that the ends of the Earth won't even be far enough to escape Darling's family. By the way, has anyone here checked their bank accounts lately?"

One of the orcs pulls out his smartphone. "Boss! My accounts are frozen! Even the Swiss and Cayman accounts!"

Everyone not holding a gun checks their phones. "Shit!"

A klaxon starts blaring above-deck.

"Sounds like Hikari found us," said Ventris.

The intercom came to life. "Lonnergane! I'm looking at a very angry cosplay-girl, and she's pointing the cannon of a SW-Dalek right at my face! What did you guys do?"


	24. Chapter 24

(chapter 24)

**Dragon's Homeworld, Leviathan Beach**

As Clemene stood on the ...flight deck?... of the offworlders' city-ship, he and Queen Ursula could see the cliff, he and his paladins fled down, all those years ago. Just standing here, as a guest, he knew that all of the forces at his command could never hope to conquer the inhabitants of this city. It was always patrolled, day or night by at least 6 of those transforming flying machines. The deck itself had a mix of both the dragon- and knight-versions of these, also on guard duty.

On its own platform, towards the aft of the vessel, between the arcane structures they can't yet understand, sat the black shape of Lady Thunderwing. She was one of the city-ship's three rulers, an arcane fusion of demon and machine. Instead of using flames and wings, like the other machines, she spun twin clusters of sword-blades. The distinctive thundering noise of her approach was enough to panic horses, and scatter peasants.

The sea, surrounding the city-ship also had its own mechanical denizens, servants of Lady Enterprise, who the city-ship was named for. Where Thunderwing's minions were dragons and knights, Enterprise's were Sirens, and Mermaids.

However, they were here to talk with Lord Sturmdrachen, and the ...Emperor ...of ...Demise. _Wasn't I supposed to meet that green-winged angel?_ Clemene's head hurt.

A glass of some light brown liquid, that smelled of cow's milk and honey, appeared in his field of view. Lady Enterprise, the water nymph that acted as the city-ship's guardian, was holding it. "It's chocolate milk," she said. "It will help your headache."

===/===

**Japan, possibly the outskirts of Tokyo**

Mizuchi was getting tired. Her magic barrier was starting to fail, she could no longer plant magic-mines, and some of the AK47 shots were starting to get past. One of them narrowly missing Mero's head.

Many of the bystanders were either running in panic, or hiding in whatever cover they could find, but the sound of approaching sirens meant that at least one of them had called the police. Mizuchi sighed in relief, as a police van pulled up in front of them, and half a dozen riot police stepped out.

"We'll take it from here," the squad sergeant called out. Mizuchi's relief turned to despair, as he drew a silenced pistol, and aimed it towards them. He fired, and the distinctive red 'feathers' of a tranq-round stuck out of Mero's neck. Mizuchi felt a sharp pain in her neck, and used the 'thumb' on her wing to pull out the dart.

"What the hell!?" she exclaimed, as Harmony appeared suddenly between them, and she could sense her older sister, Kuroko, behind her. "Smile for the news cameras, Lonnergane. You're under arrest for the kidnapping of Merone Lorelei du Neptune."

===/===

**In the skies, heading for Tokyo**

Hiroshi was listening to the radio-chatter between the two helicopters. Not via the headset he was wearing, he was just using his natural abilities.

"_This is Delta-one to base. Package Alpha secured. En-route to rendezvous to LZ to Package Bravo coordinates."_

"_Negative Delta-one. Package Bravo not at -"_

"_Surrender quietly, Fred, and I'll pull some strings, so your wife can visit you."_

"_Freya? How did you get this frequency?"_

"_Doesn't matter how I did it. Why'd you kidnap my kids, Fred?"_

"Major Caulford, sir, a giant robot just grabbed Delta-two, and there's a green-winged angel, armed with a Vulcan, in front of us. She looks pissed!"

"That would be both of my mothers," said Hiroshi. "Which one would you prefer to deal with?"

===/===

**In the skies, heading towards Asaka**

Mero slowly regained consciousness. Her head felt like a bad hangover. As she began to take in her surroundings, she realised she was being cradled in someone's arms.

"We're almost back to your house, Mero," said Mizuchi, flying beside them. "This is my sister, Kuroko."

Mero looked at the woman's rainbow-feathered wings, horns, and her six heterochromic eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, what species are you?"

"Too many to choose from," Kuroko replied. " I have Feathered Serpent, Deity, Arachne, and a few other things in here. The paperwork for me was an absolute nightmare. Aunt Kuroko opted to just place 'Chimera' and be done with it."

"I'll bet. She hates paperwork."

"My parents had to bribe her with ultra-rare coffee, before she would speak to them again.

===/===

**Somewhere in the Pacific**

The captain was staring at the business-end of a SW-Dalek's cannon. The fact it was being wielded by a girl dressed as some cosplay 'combat fairy' wasn't helping matters.

"You have several kidnapped girls in your hold," said the girl. "I know for a fact that one of them is Saikawa Riko."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied. "We are a legitimate transport vessel, transferring staff and materiel between divisions."

The girl lifted him up in one hand, as if he weighed no more than a rag-doll, and dragged him to the window. She pointed to a rapidly-closing silhouette in the storm-filled sky. "See that out there? That's Miss Saikawa's girlfriend. You have until she gets within range to have those girls up here, unharmed. You have until she lands on the ship to have your crew surrender," Ten humanoid figures, wearing some sort of powered armour, materialise on the bridge. "If you refuse, my friends, here will be giving all of you a free upgrade."

===/===

**Antarctic Icecream, Ginza**

Hiroshi and the girls are drinking chocolate milkshakes, and watching some poor Arachne in a penguin costume scare away customers, and giving kids potential psychological trauma.

"Remind me to never apply for the food-service industry until I can cook," said Renata.

"What exactly does drinking these have do with fixing our migraines?" asked Galadriel.

"It helps reduce the side effects of the paradox," said Hiroshi.

"Mizuchi died, before your mother did what she did, didn't she?" Renata whispered.

"Yes, she did," replied Hiroshi.

"Why is it affecting us?" asked Ventris.

"Probably because we're each carrying Darling's children," replied Galadriel.

"Being pregnant with a baby Timelord would partially shield you from the effects of- _what did you say?_"

"Uh- surprise?" Renata replied.

===/===

**Tokyo**

"_...corp employees were arrested, by UNIT officers, for the attempted kidnapping of an ICEP trainee, and the eldest daughter of the duNeptune royal family. UNIT was originally a special anti-terrorist force, created in the 1970s, and disbanded around ten years later. Recently declassified documents have revealed they were also a precursor to ICEP, and have since been reinstated as a special division of MON. With the..."_

Director Nakahara turned to Freya. "With that news report, several hundred people have suddenly become unemployed. In the current economic recession, this could lead to a financial depression."

"I'm already working on that," said Freya. "Tomorrow morning, ATRAX Engineering, Research and Development will announce they're opening a security division, and will endeavour to hire as many displaced staff as possible, subject to the usual legal checks."

"I wish I had the financial backing of the Sturmdrachen royal family," Nakahara commented.

"Technically, you do," replied Freya. "I may appear to throw money around on a whim, but it's generally because I know how economics really works. That 'trickle-down' crap doesn't work, because rich people are bigger gold-hoarders than dragons. Regular people with money in their pockets tend to either spend it on things, boosting the short-term economy, or pay-down debts, boosting the long-term economy."

===/===

**Somewhere in the USA**

_BANG!_ A door bursts open, shortly followed by several people in tactical gear. "FBI!"

...the building is empty, much to the lead Agent's frustration...

"Sorry, agent Sturmdrachen. someone must have tipped him off."

()()()()()

**A/N:**

\- I 'borrowed' a reference to **Tarmo Flake**'s "It's not Easy Being an Arachne"

\- Chocolate milk easing a time-paradox migraine is from Men in Black.


	25. Chapter 25

(Chapter 25)

**Dragon's Home-world, former site of the Saint of the Sea's Temple**

Fiora pulled some dried meat from her bag, broke it in half, and handed one of the pieces to Astrid.

"The bazaar seems normal enough," Astrid commented. "Although it is strange that nobody stopped us from coming into these ruins."

"You're too inexperienced, city girl," replied Fiora. "None of the vendors and customers were haggling. Also, this," she pointed to the device on her arm, hidden under her cloak, "indicated that none of their scales have been rigged for short-measure."

"Maybe their supplies are in surplus at the moment," said Astrid. "Some of the merchants at the shopping district lower their prices, when they need to shift excess stock."

"There is another indicator something isn't right," she countered, tossing some more dried meat towards a shadow in the ruins, where a small hand reached out, and snatched it. "No scrumping or pickpockets. There are also no beggars, hustlers or grafters."

A quiet voice whispered from near where the hand came from. "The guards turn a blind eye to us hiding in here. The old temple still has the blessings of the Saint. It's the only safe place from the new god's snatchers."

"New god?' Astrid enquired.

"Travellers!" a voice from another part of the ruins gasped. "If you don't have anyone waiting outside of the town gates, you're in great danger. The new god demands regular human sacrifices, and the townspeople would rather a stranger be taken, than one of their own."

"Interesting," said Fiora, giving Astrid a meaningful look. "What does this 'new god' look like?"

"He is obviously another sea god, as his face is that of an octopus," they replied. "Unfortunately, the only 'blessing' they have given to us is only granting his priests and their escorts permission to leave the city."

"How do you get your fish, then?" Fiora asked.

"That's obvious," replied Astrid. "Boats are only allowed out of the harbour, if a 'priest' is onboard." She uncovered her forearm device, and pressed a sequence of buttons. The holographic display lit up. "Ice Queen to Enterprise."

The image of a water nymph wearing tactical gear projected itself in front of the two girls.

"A ghost!" shrieked another voice from the ruins.

"Hey Astrid!" exclaimed the water nymph."Fiora! This is the first time I haven't seen you or my niece all over each other! This must be serious!"

"You can tell Paladin General Clemene, we know why Queen Ursula's tax collectors have been disappearing in this area," replied Astrid. "Hikari was right to get my sister to arrange for you to be stationed here."

"Really?" commented the water nymph. "Really?! Damn! A foothold? And this soon?"

"Unfortunately," replied Astrid. "We don't know if they've managed a bridgehead, yet."

"The M.O. Is still the same," commented Fiora. "Find an isolated community, near the sea, in a country full of religion-induced ignorance. Once a foothold had been established, create a dimensional bridgehead, by taking multiple unwilling sacrifices and feeding them into a soul-pit, created from multiple _willing_ sacrifices."

"How do you know about that sort of thing?" the water nymph asked suspiciously. "That's Dark Magic at its most extreme."

"Hikari and her boyfriend explained it to both Freya, and Uncle Rob. We just happened to be eavesdropping."

===/===

**A field, somewhere in Central America**

Riko was watching Kanna and Mizuchi 'rough housing' in the middle of the field. The way they interacted was completely different to the times she watched Kanna and Tohru during their sparring.

While Kanna's and Tohru's moves could be best described as wrestling, with a liberal amount of magic and fire-breathing thrown in, Mizuchi moved more like a martial artist. In fact, she moved a _lot_ like a martial artist. She still used magic, though it was mostly defensive. She also noticed, that while Kanna interspersed electrical attacks, which Tohru didn't have, amongst her repertoire, Mizuchi never used fire attacks against any of the dragons she sparred with. She looked towards Kanna's mother and Tohru. "Why doesn't Mizuchi use fire? Is she holding back, because Kanna is her cousin?"

Miss Kobayashi looked towards Tohru. "I think you should field this question. You're the expert."

Tohru handed her lover a small bundle. "Here, hold Sakura for a while. She wants some mummy-hugs." She turned towards Riko. "Mizuchi can't actually breathe fire. We don't know if it's because she's a frost dragon, or because she's not fully a dragon."

"I don't understand. Elma is a water dragon, but I've still seen her breathe fire."

"What the fu-" _**CRACK! ...fsst...**_ "-as that?" Kobayashi said, looking towards her older daughter's, and her cousin's fight.

"What was what?" asked Tohru. "I missed it."

They noticed Kanna calling a 'time out' to Mizuchi.

"Looks like we'll be finding out in a moment," said Kobayashi.

Kanna walked back to the group, a layer of frost slowly melting from her left side. Some of her feathers were black.

"I'm sorry, Kanna," apologised her cousin. "I didn't even know I could do that."

Kanna angrily turned around. "That attack could have fucking killed me, bitch!"

"Oi! Oi! Oi! Kanna!" said Kobayashi. "What have I told you about using that sort of language?"

"Sorry, Mum," Kanna apologised. "Mizuchi lied to us, and she cheated. She said she couldn't breathe fire!"

"She didn't lie," said Kobayashi. "It took me a few moments to see what she did. Those are cryogenic burns."

"They're what?" Kanna, Tohru, and Riko simultaneously asked.

"You accidentally managed to do something your aunt Astrid naturally does, didn't you?" Kobayashi asked Mizuchi. "Wasn't your grandmother also a Yuki-onna?"

"That was Frost magic?!" Tohru exclaimed. "I thought it was just snow, frost, and ice."

"Erika asked me to watch out for this, after Mizuchi froze the fuel in the kidnapper's van a few weeks ago," said Kobayashi. "As she reaches adulthood, Mizuchi is going to manifest a fusion of both Frost Dragon, and Yuki-onna abilities. Just like the rest of you, she's going to have trouble managing her attacks' level of power."

===/===

**Tokyo**

"Director Nakahara, Coordinator Smith, _...ahem... _Captain O'Reilly," said one of the people on the other side of the table. "Director Nakahara, remind me. Why are your niece, and that _foreigner_ here? We are supposed to be discussing your department's budget inconsistencies."

_Save me from bureaucratic nonsense,_ Nakahara thought. _I suppose this meeting was, unfortunately, inevitable._ "Mr Secretary, Miss Smith is here because she is the coordinator in charge of the majority of the Greater Tokyo area. There are more extra-species in her workload than any other coordinator in the department, but you insist on only authorising staff based on distance, instead of population. Oborozuka alone, has two different fairy colonies, and several extra-species. This includes no less than seven dragons"

"Seven dragons? In one city? And they aren't killing each other, or causing problems for the general population?" The bean-counter was in awe. "Nevertheless, I have explained it to you before. The budget just doesn't cover extra staff. Be grateful we allowed you to hire that part-time language tutor."

"To be frank, sir, you only allowed us to hire young Miss O'Reilly because of the publicity-value of hiring an extra-species girl, who looks good on camera. When you looked at her file, you didn't look beyond her photo. The fact she knows twenty languages-"

"Twenty five," Freya interjected.

"Sorry, twenty five languages," said Nakahara." The fact she knows twenty five languages didn't even figure into your decision."

"Speaking of decisions," one of the others opposite them snidely commented. "Why is that foreigner listed as the head of UNIT?"

"Because she is," Nakahara answered. "She was never formally dismissed from her original position, back in the 1980s, and she has been using her own finances to maintain the department's assets, _and the various extra-species trading agreements._ If she hadn't been doing what she didn't have to, your operating costs to re-establish trade agreements alone would have tripled ICEP's budget."

"Not to mention that issue with the satellites," mentioned Smith.

"What issue?" another voice asked suspiciously.

"All of the communication satellites, the two space stations, and the moon-base," Smith answered. "Without regular repairs and maintenance, they would have caused more than a minor inconvenience."

"The what?" the bean-counters asked.

"You didn't read the declassified files, did you?" Nakahara commented. "As well as working with extra-species communities, they had evidence of extraterrestrial communities, so built infrastructure to cater towards that."

"Aliens?" scoffed the first bean-counter. "Do we need to order some drug tests?"

"The Chief Scientific Advisor for the British branch of UNIT, Dr John Smith, was from another planet," Freya commented. "They had a prisoner, Victor Magister, locked up in Dartmoor. He came from the same world. My mother was born on a colony-world belonging to the Doctor's and the Master's people. We still don't think the general population are ready for the knowledge of off-world civilisations. They're still having issues with 'mythical creatures' being real."

"Don't forget, they're also not ready for Isekai civilisations," Smith added.

"That's true," confirmed Nakahara. "Most of the wizards and dragons come from parallel worlds, as do a small percentage of the general population of both humans, and extra-species. Long story short, gentlemen, Miss Smith and Miss O'Reilly are in charge of both the majority of our departments' operations and logistics, and also represent the majority of our extra-species, Isekai, and off-world populations."

"Fine," grumbled one of the bean-counters, pulling a number of files from a nearby cabinet.

"Before you go any further," commented Freya. "Remove anything related to ATRAX Engineering, UNIT, and MDD Irish Rose. They're all under my personal finances. ATRAX R&D, and Harmony Tempus, are managed by my eldest daughter, and Cassiopeia Tempus is managed by my son."

The people holding the files suddenly looked lost. "That's all of these files."


	26. Chapter 26

(Chapter 26)

**Lethbridge-Stewart Station**

...VWORP...VWORP...VWORP...

A 1950s British Police Telephone Box materialised in the corner of the room. Two of the three occupants barely gave it any attention, and went back to whatever they were doing with the bench full of computer terminals. The third person, a human girl, with light brown hair, stopped hugging the lilac-haired girl from behind, sighed, and picked up a telephone handset from a nearby wall-console.

"They left their handbrake on," commented the green-haired girl, from under the bench. "Is the LAN cable to terminal three hooked in?"

"Mmm," commented the lilac-haired girl. "Maybe it's stuck. Terminal three looks good. Let's move on to four."

"Miss Smith," said the girl on the phone. "We've got visitors in the new section. What am I doing here? Kanna's here. Where else would I be?"

"Kanna, you've got yourself a good one," commented the green-haired girl.

"I'm sure yours is good too, Fern," replied Kanna. "She's just not as clingy."

The door to the room slid open, and Smith walked in. "You called me for Harmony?"

"It's not Harmony," commented Kanna. "Her re-materialisation isn't that loud."

The door on the Police Box opened, and Mizuchi backed out. "-on't need weapons, Jack! The locals aren't going to bite ...hard... Doctor, talk some sense into him."

"Miss O'Reilly," Smith called out. "It's been two days. Harmony arrived with Hikari's friends yesterday. What have you been doing?"

"Hi, Aunt Kuroko..." she got a sharp look. "Sorry. Good afternoon, Miss Smith. We overshot the jump slightly." She handed Smith a USB-drive, with a data-crystal fused to it. "Here's that Operating System I was asked to fetch."

"Who are your friends?" Smith asked.

Jack took one look at the ICEP coordinator. "Hey gorgeous. Captain Jack Harkness. Love the 'Man in Black' look."

"Jack..." warned the Doctor. "Don't."

"I don't mind," replied Smith, a blush forming on her cheeks.

The Doctor turned to face Smith. "I'm the Doctor. Pleased to meet you."

"Not the Doctor from the British branch of UNIT?" Smith asked.

The Doctor looked surprised. "How would you know about that?"

"ICEP has access to all of the old assets,' she replied. "Welcome to Lethbridge-Stewart Station."

"Fern!" Mizuchi jumped into the green-haired girl's arms, and looked deeply into her eyes.

"You look like you haven't seen me in weeks," Fern commented, before both girls locked lips.

After a few minutes of small-talk with Smith, the Doctor noticed the girls were still kissing. "Even I would have needed to come up for air by now, and I have a respiratory-bypass."

"They'll be there for a while," Smith commented. "Fern is a Dryad. She inhales carbon-dioxide, and exhales oxygen, so they're recycling each others' air." The phone console rang. "Saikawa, could you get that, please?"

The Doctor noticed that Fern's 'hair' was actually leaves.

"Miss Smith," she called out. "They're about to test Cassiopeia's docking abilities. Do you want to go watch?"

"I do!" Mizuchi briefly stopped kissing her girlfriend, before proceeding to kiss her neck, a quiet moan coming from the dryad. "I'll carry you there," she whispered, as numerous vines wrapped around the dragon's body, and Fern's legs wrapped around her hips.

===/===

The Doctor and Jack looked in awe at what looked like an airport's arrival/departure terminal. Even though it was currently empty, barring construction crew, they could see the station was being prepared into a 'proper' commercial retail centre. "Hey, Miss Smith!" called a winged woman, near a luggage carousel. "They're towards the terminal six observation window."

"Thanks, Calliope!" she called back. They headed towards where she indicated.

"From the look on her face, you mispronounced her name" commented Jack. "And not for the first time."

"It can't be helped," commented Kanna. "Lucoa, Freya, Hikari, and Mizuchi are the only ones who can get the accent right."

"Oh, wow!" The Doctor took in the view from the observation window. In the distance, they could just see NASA's International Space Station towards the left side of their field of view. However, it was dwarfed by another, star-shaped, space station on the right side. "What is that?" he pointed towards the larger station.

Mizuchi, having finally stopped her make-out session, looked where the Doctor indicated. "That's Mum's ship, the Irish Rose. She doesn't usually have the docking-nets out. I suppose it's a precaution for Cassiopeia's manoeuvrability tests."

"Woah!" Jack startled. "Is that a fighter jet? I thought we were in space."

_**:::DOCKING BAY 6 OPEN:::**_ appeared on the display, above the window.

"Mama-Erika!" called Mizuchi. "Coming to see how my brother drives?"

"Actually, Galadriel is piloting at the moment."

A small spacecraft came into view. It looked like a giant flying insect, bulbous 'abdomen' included, but with bulky thrusters where the wings would be. The name _Cassiopeia_ was painted along its hull, along with an image of the constellation.

"Is that a Firefly cargo ship?!" Jack exclaimed. "Someone actually built a real one?"

The Doctor's face had a number of emotions going over it. "What did they do to you?" he whispered. He turned towards the rest of the group, anger on his face.

_He doesn't even get this angry with Daleks,_ Jack thought.

Smith slowly raised her phone, and pressed a button. "Cass," she whispered into the phone. "There's a situation here, that only you can resolve."

The Firefly suddenly spun around, and moved towards the docking bay to the right of the window.

_**:::DOCKING BAY 7 OPEN:::**_ appeared on the display, above the window.

A blonde 16-year-old woman, of average-build, came running into the terminal. "What's wrong?" she panted. "Tight manoeuvring like that still puts a strain on my systems. Ventris is still trying to rebuild a lot of my damaged components."

"Doctor, this is Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia, this is the Doctor" Smith introduced the woman to the timelord. "I'm you you know she's that TARDIS."

"Hang on!" Mizuchi looked at the woman. "I can't see the refresh-flicker. Did my brother improve on Hikari's designs, or was it Ventris?"

"Neither," replied Smith. "Hiroshi and his little harem are scary geniuses, when they put their heads together. Cassiopeia decided to take advantage of the damage to her structure, and reconfigured herself. A lot."

Cassiopeia took over the explanation. "My original hull was massively damaged, so my new external hull needed to be somewhat larger than the average TARDIS. We decided to integrate my salvageable components into a starship capable of landing on a planet, without looking 'too science fiction'. The Firefly looked like the best choice, seeing as my internal dimensional stabilisers are shot. The only parts of me that are bigger on the inside are a couple of storage compartments in the engine room, and another in the galley."

The Doctor scanned the woman with his sonic screwdriver. "She's not a hologram."

"No, I'm not," replied Cassiopeia. "I used the remote projector components, and took advantage of my chameleon circuit. I made myself a body out of my primary console and time rotor."

"By the way," Smith whispered to Mizuchi. "She's already joined the 'knocked up' club."

"Oh em eff gee! My brother is Captain Kirk!" Mizuchi exclaimed.

"Doctor, stop drooling!" Jack called out. "I don't think yours would agree to that sort of relationship."

"How are your systems?" Erika asked. "Are you alright for the jump?"

"What jump?" Mizuchi asked.

"Just after you left, your paternal grandfather's organisation made another attempt to kidnap you and your brother," said Smith. "They opened a Gate in the the nursery at Hiroshi's house in Asaka, and nearly crushed Ventris's eggs, as they came out of it."

"They startled Renata, when they broke in," Erika continued. "She was feeding Sally at the time. Luckily for them, we make a point to have antivenin for both Renata, and Ventris on hand."

"I'm sure they learnt a valuable lesson about the maternal instincts of venomous demi-humans," Mizuchi commented.

"We also know about your little secret," said Smith.

"Which secret would that be?" Mizuchi replied, feigning ignorance.

"Don't try that on me," said Smith. "I taught you that."

"She knows about L-space," Fern whispered in her ear. "We're prepping for an extended trip, to a set of coordinates your mother found in her great grandmother's will."

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Mizuchi," apologised Erika. "We're going to need you to act as a psychic decoy. Freya is going to drop Fern, Hiroshi, and the girls off at the Dragon's homeworld, where they'll make a series of small jumps. We need you to use a mix of L-space travel and your Gate spell, and go via a different route."

"Because you can only traverse L-space on foot," Fern added. "It might be a good idea to make your gates exit at high altitudes. It will make it almost impossible for any pursuers to tail you."

"Why can't I just go with the rest of you?" she asked.

"We need multiple trails, so they have to split their resources," Erika explained.

"How long are we going to be hiding out?" Mizuchi asked.

"Unfortunately, it will be until we arrest both your father and grandfather, and dismantle their organisation," apologised Smith.

"Or until they drop dead from old age," Fern muttered, so only Mizuchi could hear.

"We should be ready to go within the next few days," said Cassiopeia. "Hikari can take your friends back to their home reality, once they're done sightseeing. …Doctor, my eyes are up here."


End file.
